


Take Care

by dgalerab



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Mike Wheeler Needs a Hug, More Mindflayer Shenanigans, Multi, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-22 15:01:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 26,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22318129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dgalerab/pseuds/dgalerab
Summary: After a breakup with El, Mike finds comfort in Lucas and Max. As an unconventional romance blooms, though, the Mindflayer makes its way back into the world again, this time a little closer to home than before.(started this as a comic and then went "nah i want to plunge myself into rarepair hell faster than this")
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair/Mike Wheeler, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 69
Kudos: 58





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i feel like no one asked this of me and yet here i am. disappointing everyone who ever followed me for other fandoms. you're all so welcome

“So,” El said, after a long moment of contemplation, “if it’s fall  _ in _ love…”

Mike watched the scrunch of her nose as she mulled over the thought of a new expression. There were tears in her eyes as well, which made him feel a little better about how there were tears dripping down his face since they’d finally found a place to sit outside.

“... Rise… out of love?” she guessed.

That wrenched a chuckle out of him. “Uh, no, it’s still falling.”

“Fall out of love?” she clarified.

“You got it,” Mike said. He was pretty sure it was considered really weird to be super proud of your girlfriend while breaking up with her, but he  _ was. _

“That’s  _ stupid,” _ El declared.

“Yeah,” Mike agreed.

All of this was kind of stupid. The way they’d spent months wavering back and forth on the phone before El had finally asked,  _ Do you still love me? _ and he’d spent minutes stumbling over his words to insist that he  _ did, _ the same way he loved Dustin or Will or Nancy or, well, maybe not Nancy, that’s weird, but… 

They’d spent the day in the Indianapolis Children’s museum, which had been nice in a weird bittersweet way like they were on a date but with all the colors replaced with other colors and an odd sense of relief that their agreement to break up wasn’t the end for them. But now they were here and it was breakup time, and Mike couldn’t stop crying.

“I think sometimes,” El sounded out, slowly, sounding so much like she had at fourteen, learning almost all her words all at once, “words make things worse.”

This  _ sucked. _

“So I dump your ass?” El asked, smiling slightly. She was crying too, which made Mike feel less dumb about crying over a breakup they’d  _ both _ decided on.

“That’s not funny,” he mumbled. Breaking up back then had felt like the end of the world. Now it just sucked.

“A little funny,” El wheedled.

“Alright, fine,” Mike relented.

She cocked her head a little, teasing. “You can dump my ass,” she offered helpfully.

“Shit,” he managed, sniffling hard. Losing El had always terrified him, and it seemed that not being  _ in _ love didn’t make the thought any less scary. He  _ did _ love her, just not as a girlfriend. And what if they couldn’t be friends? If they could fall out of love, could they fall out of touch? How was he going to be there for her when she had nightmares or struggles learning to read and do long division or… He took a deep breath. “I just  _ really _ don’t want to lose you.”

El blinked at him, then grinned. “You won’t,” she said.

She sounded so confident, and Mike gripped her shoulders as though clinging to her was going to somehow impart that confidence to him. “But how do you  _ know _ that?!”

She sighed and grabbed his sweater, pulling him in until their foreheads knocked together. “Because,” she murmured. “Promise.  _ Friends _ don’t lie.”

His throat clenched. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing tight.

_ Friends,  _ he thought.

And then, it seemed, they were broken up.

**

Max was the first to notice something off about them.

She was sitting on the table while Dustin and Lucas bickered about how to set up the board for D&D and Will did his best to interject, grinning about it. 

“Holy shit, what happened to you guys?” she asked.

Mike looked at El, who peered back at him. Her eyes were red rimmed, which meant Mike’s definitely had to be worse. They’d spent the walk home in silence, wavering back and forth over whether they could hold hands or not. For a moment, Mike found himself worried that they were going to drag this weird, sleepy melancholy in to the rest of their friends.

He glanced back at Will, Dustin and Lucas, who had gone silent to stare at them, then back at El, who finally let out a strangled sound between a snort and a chuckle, giving Mike enough energy to smile.

“Later,” he said, with a grin. “C’mon, it’s D&D time now!”

“Yeah!” El said, swooping in to sit beside Max. 

Max gave Mike a suspicious look, but clambered into a seat from the table, and Lucas and Dustin seemingly remembered they were mid-argument.

Mike took a deep breath and pulled up a seat next to Will, who seemed to still be mulling over whether or not to offer more comfort. “So, I bet you’ve got something terrible up your sleeve for us this time, huh?”

A smile crawled slowly over Will’s face. “Maybe.”

“Looking forward to it,” Mike said, catching El’s eyes for a moment. She smirked at him, and funnily enough, Mike found that he really was looking forward to being just friends with Eleven Hopper-Byers. “Lucas, I know you were in the cave when we left off, stop yelling at Dustin!”

**

D&D had made all the worries go away, because everything had been so normal. 

But now it was dark, and Mike had just had to catch himself before kissing El goodbye and turn it into an awkward kiss on the cheek that had made El’s eyes water before she nodded, saying, silently,  _ I know, me too, _ and Mike found himself slumped against the window, sadly watching the streetlights go by.

He wasn’t even scared of losing her anymore. It just sucked. It sucked that things could end when they’d seemed so very eternal.

Max and Lucas were having some kind of silent conversation, Max twisted around the passenger seat while Lucas shrugged at her vehemently, and then Lucas was unbuckling his seatbelt to slide next to Mike. “Heeeyyy, buddyyyyyy,” he said, awkwardly leaning up against Mike. “Sooooo, what was today about?”

Max was still twisted around, staring at him, and even Dustin was glancing back at him in the rearview mirror as he was driving.

“Oh, um,” Mike said, “El and I broke up.”

“How could she do that?” Lucas blurted at the same time as Max blurted, “What did you  _ do?” _

“Hey,” Mike complained, already feeling less sad if only because he’d replaced it with indignation. “Why are you guys assuming  _ she _ broke up with  _ me?” _

They both gave him a look as though to say,  _ What,  _ you _ broke up with  _ her? _ Ridiculous.  _ And Mike couldn’t blame them. He loved El so much, he didn’t know what he would have done if she hadn’t felt the same about them breaking up. Suddenly he wondered if that was how his mother had gotten stuck with his dad, but he couldn’t imagine his dad ever being truly in love with anyone.

“Anyway, why would you assume Mike did something wrong?” Lucas protested.

“Because El wouldn’t break up with him for no reason, they’ve been dating like  _ four years,” _ Max snapped.

“So have we, and you tried to break up with me over  _ jawbreakers _ last week!” Lucas protested.

“I was  _ obviously _ kidding!”

“Yeah, so?!”

“Are you serious right now? So, kidding about breaking up isn’t the same as breaking up!” She looked back at Mike. “Anyway, I’m sure if you apologize…”

“It’s not like that,” Mike tried to say, but he was interrupted by Lucas’s outcry of, “Oh, if  _ he _ apologizes? You don’t even know what happened!” 

Mike sighed, but even as he was rolling his eyes, he felt and odd surge of affection over how Lucas was adamant on taking his side, putting his arm around Mike’s shoulder almost protectively. Frankly, Mike wished he’d just shut up and do  _ only _ that, because it was the most comforting thing he could think of at the moment.

“Oh,  _ please _ don’t start giving him advice about how to win her back,” Max said. “You’re  _ not _ good at it, I just  _ like _ you, dummy.”

“I’m not  _ going _ to win her back,” Mike protested.

“Hey, don’t think like that,” Lucas said.

“Uh, no, he’s  _ right,” _ Max said.

“He can win her back!”

“She’s not a prize to be won!” She turned her gaze on Mike, “Look, there’s no way what you did is that bad. It’s probably just another misunderstanding and you’ll talk it out. Don’t listen to Lucas’s dumb advice and you’ll be fine.”

“Max,” Mike tried to say, because it was a relief to realize that in her own way she was also on his side and equally exhausting to realize she was doing the exact opposite of what he needed right now.

“Why do you have to assume he  _ did _ something?” Lucas said. “He’s innocent!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Uh, yeah I do!”

“How?”

“Because it’s  _ Mike!” _

“Guys!” Dustin shouted. “Come on!” He sighed, meeting Mike’s eyes in the mirror. “I’m sorry, buddy, that sucks.”

“Yeah,” Mike said, taking a deep breath. “We both agreed. We just… didn’t feel the same way as we used to.”

Max and Lucas both stared at him. “Wait, seriously?” Max asked finally.

“Yeah,” Mike murmured helplessly.

Max settled in her seat a little. “Jeez, that’s a bummer. I really thought you guys would be together forever.”

“Yeah, me too,” Mike said, swallowing down tears.

“You’re still friends, though, right?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, yeah, of course,” Mike said. “It was… actually not that big a deal. It’s been coming for a few months now.”

“You could have told us,” Lucas said softly.

“Guys, it really wasn’t that bad,” Mike assured them. “It just… wasn’t what either of us wanted anymore.”

And that was the worst of it, Mike thought. That you could simply stop wanting things you’d once craved. That he didn’t know what to want next. That behind the desperation to be with El that had stretched out over all their crazy experiences, he just felt oddly wrung out. 

Lucas rubbed his shoulder, and at least that much was simple - Mike really wanted to bury his face in Lucas’s shoulder and just  _ rest. _ He nestled closer, and Lucas hesitated only a moment before wrapping both arms around him. “Hey, man,” Lucas murmured. “I got you.”

Mike nodded absently and closed his eyes, allowing the motion of Lucas’s hand on his back to lull him into a half-sleep.

**

“So, what are you feeling?” Max asked.

It was ironic, Mike thought, that she’d ask that, because the best answer he could give was  _ tired. _ And even that wasn’t quite right. He blinked up at her from the couch.

“Romcom, horror, fantasy…?” she prompted.

“Oh,” he said. “I don’t know. I guess you pick.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Well, then I’m picking Alien.”

“Oh, what a surprise,” Mike jabbed.

“I like Sigourney Weaver!” Max protested.

“I’m just saying, you’ve watched that movie at my house like a  _ billion _ times,” Mike said. In fact, he’d bought  _ Aliens _ just for her.

“Well, Neil doesn’t like it,” Max muttered.

“I know,” Mike said, resting his head against the arm of the couch.

At this point, Max had slept in his basement at least 4 times as many nights as El had. She didn’t like to be at home, which made sense.

Max looked up from where she was hooking up the VCR. “Hey,” she said, clambering onto the couch beside him. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Look, even if it was mutual, you’re still upset,” Max said.

“I don’t know,” Mike said. “I just feel exhausted.”

“Well you have been crying all day,” Max teased.

“Mmm,” Mike mumbled in agreement.

She sighed and shoved her arm under him to settle closer. “If you need to talk,” she said, “I am here for you, you know?”

“I know,” Mike said. “I guess I’ve just been scared of losing El for so long. It’s weird to let go, like, on purpose.”

“I mean, not  _ let go _ let go, right?” Max said, her chin digging into his cheek. “Like, you’re pretty tenacious as a friend.”

Mike snorted. “Thanks?” He shook his head. “I guess for a while I just felt like being with El was everything. But it’s not everything, so what… what is? Everything, I mean.”

“Not sure I read you there,” Max said, a hint of a laugh hiding in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Mike said. “I just… I’m just tired.”

She sighed, pulling him in closer. “That’s okay, I guess.”

“We have ice cream!” Dustin declared, earning hissed shushes from Max and Mike. “Sorry.”

“You’re gonna wake Ted,” Max muttered.

“He’s not sleeping in the chair,” Dustin complained.

“Still,” Max whispered.

“Wow, Max,” Lucas teased. “Mike’s been single for like three hours and you’re already snuggling up to him, huh?”

“Excuse me?” Max said, sitting up to raise her eyebrows at Lucas.

“You had that coming,” Mike mumbled.

“I had that coming?” Max said, her tone warning.

“You tease Lucas like that  _ all the time.” _

“Thank you, Mike, for having my back,” Lucas said.

“Oh, fine, if you’re so jealous, get in here,” Max dared.

“The three of you aren’t gonna fit on that couch,” Dustin said.

“Not with that attitude,” Lucas said, now having been issued a challenge. Mike sighed and let Lucas manhandle him so his legs were over the arm of the couch, leaving enough room for Max to curl up next to Lucas’s shoulder once Lucas had slid in under Mike. “Ta-da!”

“Jeez, Mike just went through a breakup and you’re treating him like a bag of potatoes,” Dustin said.

“It’s fine,” Mike said. The fear had subsided with D&D and the sadness had leaked out over the course of the quiet drive back home, and to be perfectly honest, Mike sort of felt like a bag of potatoes right now.

Lucas wrapped his arms around Mike, and Mike wasn’t sure how to feel about how nice it was to just rest his head on Lucas’ chest, Max pressed up against his back.

“Dustin, start the movie,” Max demanded.

“What are we watching?” Lucas asked.

“Alien,” Mike said.

“Oh, what a surprise.”

“That’s what I said!”

Max rolled her eyes. “Are you guys done?”

“Someone’s got a crush on Sigourney Weaver,” Lucas teased.

“Who doesn’t?” Max asked.

Mike closed his eyes, yawning. 

“You guys are all assholes,” Dustin said, getting up to start the movie.

**

“So, um,” Will said, watching El tug a D&D figure into her hand with her powers. She’d been trying to practice. “Everything okay?”

El glanced up at him. Will had been her brother for three years now, and it was still a little odd. He didn’t like talking, which was frustrating, because she wasn’t any good at talking. She didn’t have the practice. “Yes?” she tried. 

Mike had been her first glimpse of kindness. Her way into the world. She felt as though she should be sadder, but it wasn’t as though Mike was going anywhere. 

“Did something happen?” Will asked, hesitant.

“We broke up,” El said. The more feelings she had, the harder it was to talk. She had a lot of feelings at the moment - worry that things would be hard between her and Mike now, that it would be hard to call him whenever she needed his confusing words of comfort; sadness at the end of an era; an odd excitement at what came next.

“Oh,” Will said.

“We,” she said, “fell-out-of-love.” It was still a dumb phrase, she thought. She didn’t like the notion of everything being falling. Into love, out of love. And it hadn’t felt much like falling to stop being in love. It had felt more like a slow wander they’d done together, almost as friends, followed by a bitter crawl when they’d realized they didn’t know what was on the other side, and now a bit like it had when her baby teeth had fallen out, leaving only a small, bloody dimple in her gums.

Except then she hadn’t had anyone to tell her that was normal, and had only found out a few months later when she’d felt the new teeth coming in that she would not have all her teeth fall out all at once.

“Want me to call Mom and ask her to get ice cream?” Will asked.

“Ice cream?” El questioned.

“It’s sort of a break up food,” Will said. “I guess. I’ve never broken up with anyone before.”

“I’ve only broken up with Mike,” El muttered.

“I remember,” Will said, smiling slightly. “That was a weird summer.”

El laughed. “It  _ was _ a weird summer.”

“I’ll call Mom,” Will determined.

**

“Is it… normal?” El asked, finding that she was far more intrigued by the new flavor of ice cream (moose tracks, which she didn’t understand at all. It had nothing to do with mooses.) than the actual break up. “Break ups?”

“Oh, yeah,” Joyce said. “Yeah, I had a lot of boyfriends. And… almost boyfriends.”

“Almost boyfriends?” El questioned.

Joyce got an odd smile on her face. “Yeah,” she said. “People who… were always there and never quite at the right time.”

El watched her face for a long moment, then asked, “Like Hop?”

Joyce smiled softly, her face matching the sort of off-color sadness-but-not that El was feeling too. “Like Hop.”

Will rested his head on her thigh as she rested her arm around El.

El nodded. “Did you date anyone when you were fourteen?”

“Yes,” Joyce said, laughing. “Yes, Johnny MacFealy. We went to the movies and my dad put a shotgun in the backseat when he dropped me off. We lasted about three months.”

“So three years is… good?” El asked, licking at her spoon.

Joyce sighed. “I don’t think there’s a good or bad when it comes to relationships. You just have to make sure you’re happy.”

“I don’t ever want to break up with Harry,” Will said. “It’s humiliating liking guys who don’t like you back.”

El nodded sympathetically. She’d pushed a few guys around for being mean to Will for liking them, which she thought was stupid and incomprehensible. They were all guys who had been very smug about girls liking them, so she didn’t see what the difference was.

“Oh, I know, sweetheart,” Joyce said, rubbing his shoulder. “And maybe he’s the one for you. But everything has a time and a place and… you have to keep believing that eventually you’ll end up where you need to be, even if… things go wrong.”

El sighed, resting her head against Joyce’s shoulder. “I think I want to be single for a while. Is that normal?”

“Of course,” Joyce said. “And very mature, really. You have a lot of world to see, it doesn’t always have to be about boys.”

“Or girls,” El said. She had never considered if she liked girls, but she was fairly sure it made Will feel better to be equal about these things.

“Or girls,” Joyce said.

El sighed. She wanted to call Mike and talk to him about all the things she was feeling, but it seemed too soon. Still, she had a feeling that the dust would settle just fine, and they would be able to talk just like before.

“Hop would have been happy,” El said.

“Oh, he would be trying to wring Mike’s neck no matter what we said to him,” Joyce laughed.

El snorted. It was strange, being about to be happy about sad things together with people who were just as sad. Strange but good. “Yes.”

“We’d be hiding his keys to make sure he didn’t drive straight to Hawkins to strangle him,” Joyce laughed.

“We’d still be living in Hawkins,” Will murmured.

Joyce sighed. “Yeah. We would be.”

El nestled against them both. “Everything is so complicated.”

Will nodded at that.

Joyce stroked at her hair. “I know, sweetheart. But it works out sooner or later. You have to believe that.”

“I think it’s worked out now,” El said. “I feel happy, even if some things are bad. Or hard.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” Joyce said. “Things are hard all the time. Being happy in spite of it is a good skill to have.”

El sighed. “I miss him.”

“Mike?” Will asked.

“Him too,” El said.

They were quiet for a moment. Finally, Joyce nodded. “I know. Me too.”

El shoved her face into Joyce’s jeans. “Thanks for the ice cream, Mom.”

“Any time, sweetheart,” Joyce said.

**

At the very same moment, approximately 5500 miles away, an alarm went off in a Russian research institution.

Something had broken loose.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my god i'm still going. 
> 
> thank you to the 7 entire people who gave me kudos for this. and to be clear that's not ironic AT ALL i'm literally ECSTATIC to know that actual human people want me to write for this ship

Max woke to Mike’s bony elbow in her face and groaned, carefully extricating herself over the arm of the couch, nearly crashing into the night stand as a result.

Overnight, Mike had shifted up into the crook of Lucas’s shoulder, sleeping peacefully, and Lucas had pulled him in tight, one leg dangling off the side of the couch to keep them steady. She snorted and found Mike’s polaroid camera, wriggling close so she could take a picture of them with herself in the corner of the picture.

She’d have to make a copy and send it to El. She definitely would appreciate knowing that Mike was in good hands.

Speaking of…

Max tiptoed up the stairs to find the upstairs phone so she wouldn’t wake the others. It wasn’t as though Mike’s parents would be surprised to see her here. Karen had already offered her Nancy’s room a few times.

She dialed El’s number, letting it ring a few times before Joyce picked up. “Hello?”

“Hi, it’s Max. Can I talk to El?”

“Of course, one second,” Joyce said.

Max yawned and checked the fridge for leftovers as she unwound the phone cord.

“Hi,” El said after a moment.

“Hey,” Max said, sitting up on the counter, alert. “How are you doing?”

“Good,” El said. “How is Mike?”

“He’s fine,” Max said. “I can make him less fine, though, if you need me to.”

“Max,” El sighed.

“Kidding, kidding,” Max said. “We stayed with him all night. He’s drooling all over Lucas as we speak. Sleeping like a baby.”

“Good,” El said. “I… I’m glad you’re taking care of him.”

“He just needed a little tlc.”

“T-L-C?” El sounded out.

“Tender loving care,” Max explained.

El laughed. “Yes.”

“You’re sure  _ you’re  _ okay?” Max asked.

“Yes,” El said, sounding very put-upon. “I’m fine. I had ice cream. And T-L-C from Mom.”

“What a coincidence, we had ice cream too,” Max laughed. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“Okay,” El said. “I will.”

Max paused, unsure what else to say. She’d never been through a  _ serious _ break up. The closest was her parents’ divorce, but this was very different. They’d been at each other’s throats for months and afterwards they hadn’t wanted to see each other at all. Her mother would have never asked how her father was doing. “I guess it’s for the best that you broke up before you ruined your friendship with each other,” Max said.

“Yes,” El agreed.

“And you  _ better _ stay friends, because, and do  _ not _ tell Mike this, I would  _ hate _ to take sides. I love you both, okay?”

“I know,” El said, and Max could hear the smile in her voice. “And he knows.”

“I wish you’d have told me before we headed out, though, I would have given you a big hug,” Max complained.

“Give it to Mike for now,” El said.

Max chuckled. “Okay, okay. If Lucas ever surrenders him…”

Someone cleared their throat behind her and she jumped, turning to find Ted lingering behind her. “Oh,” she said. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Sorry to scare you,” Ted said. Max didn’t like him much. He wasn’t violent like Neil, but he wasn’t a great father at all, and she didn’t know quite where to place him on her scale of rage against father figures. “Could I have our phone line back?”

“Oh, right, of course,” she said. “Sorry, El, I’ve got to go.”

“That’s okay,” El said. “I’ve got Will and Mom to take care of me.”

“Yeah, yeah, and I’ve got Mike, so don’t worry about him,” Max said. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Max hung up and peered up at Ted. “Sorry. Again.”

“I’ve gotten used to it,” Ted said. “How is my son’s elusive girlfriend who I never get to meet?”

“Uh, they broke up, actually,” Max said. “Last night.”

“Ah,” Ted said. “That’s too bad.”

Max stood there awkwardly.  _ Your son just went through a break up and you’re not even going to have a facial expression? _ she wanted to scream. Ted was  _ exhaustingly  _ dull _.  _ But Mike always got annoyed when she ranted about him, so she let it drop. “Uh, yeah. Anyway, I should probably… make sure he’s okay.”

“Probably,” Ted said, picking up the phone and dialing a number without paying her much heed.

Max gritted her teeth and headed back to the basement.

“Mike, I hate your dad,” she snapped.

Mike jolted awake, squinting in confusion at the arm around him. Lucas blinked awake too, wrinkling his nose as he took in his surroundings. “What?” Mike mumbled.

“We  _ know,” _ Dustin griped.

Max kicked a pillow at him and then grinned at Mike and Lucas, who had made no efforts to untangle themselves from each other. “Wow, Mike’s been single for less than a day and you’re already snuggling up to him, huh?” she teased.

They were off of each other like the other had suddenly become lava. Mike nearly kicked Dustin in the head in his attempt to get behind the couch while Lucas booked it for the corner. “Wha… are you serious?” Dustin asked.

“Gross, we weren’t… Max, ew,” Mike managed.

“Ew?” Lucas protested, though he was also eyeing Mike like he carried the plague.

“Oh. My god,” Max said, laughing. “Grow up, you guys. It’s not the 50s anymore. Will has a boyfriend and everything.”

“Will has a what?” Mike squeaked.

Dustin threw up his hands from where he’d been rubbing his eyes. “Harry?”

“That’s his  _ boyfriend?” _ Lucas asked.

“Yes!” Dustin cried. “They went to Snowball together! You saw the pictures! He was basically asking if you guys were okay with it!”

“I thought he just wanted us to know he was making new friends!” Mike protested. “You know how shy he is!”

“You guys are  _ so _ dense,” Max said.

“Not to mention you guys  _ know _ Robin,” Dustin said.

“Well, yeah,” Lucas said, awkwardly trying to get his hands in his pockets and failing due to how flustered he was. “And it’s fine. I’m really happy for Will.”

“Yeah, but we weren’t…” Mike said, blushing head to toe. “I mean. No way, right?”

“Yeah, I would never do that to Max,” Lucas said.

Max raised her eyebrows. “Oh, so that’s all that’s stopping you?”

“What? No. No, no, not at all. I mean, yeah, I… I mean I’d never even look at anyone, because of you, but also… Mike… I mean…” Lucas floundered.

“Lucas,” Max said, the realization dawning on her. “I was  _ kidding.”  _ But maybe Lucas wasn’t. Max found herself oddly devoid of jealousy.

She caught herself before she fell into panic. What if she was falling out of love with Lucas? If it could happen to Mike and El then it could happen to anyone, and frankly if Max couldn’t stick it out with Lucas, then who on earth could she like more?

“I mean, yeah,” Lucas said, intentionally dropping his voice to appear cool as a cucumber. “Of course.”

_ Calm down, dummy, _ she told herself.  _ Why would you break up with someone you don’t want to break up with? _

“Yeah,” Mike said, voice cracking a little. He was still blushing, giving his head a cute little shake as though to clear it of certain thoughts.  _ Ah, _ Max thought,  _ that’s why I’m not jealous. _ “I mean, obviously. Ha. Me and Lucas… That’s… Like… And I’m not… I mean that’s  _ not _ why I broke up with El. I like girls!”

“We all know,” Dustin sighed.

“Okay, well, as I was saying,” Max said, because she was sure that Lucas and Mike could continue this forever, “I hate your dad. Don’t expect any comfort from him about El.”

“I don’t expect comfort from him for anything,” Mike said while he and Lucas circled each other like nervous cats.

“Ugh,” Max said emphatically as she threw herself onto the couch. She felt a little bad about being so amused by their ruffled state, but not too bad to quickly catch Dustin’s eye and share a little smirk with him over it. “Oh, and I talked to El. She’s doing fine.”

“That’s good,” Mike said, relaxing for a moment before he was floundering yet again. “Should I call her? Is it, like, weird to call your ex if she’s okay?” He slumped onto the couch beside Max, looking practically winded. “Oh, fuck, she’s my ex.”

Max froze, unsure of what to do. Lucas made a small sympathetic noise and heroically overcame his gay panic to sit beside Mike on the other side from Max. “Hey. You’ll get used to it.”

“She’s your friend, more importantly,” Dustin offered.

“That’s true,” Mike said. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

Max simply wrapped her arms around him. “If you must know,” she sighed, reluctant, “if you guys had had a nasty break up, it would have been hard for me to choose sides.”

“Uh, thanks?” Mike said.

“Because I like you,” Max offered.

“I  _ knew _ it,” Lucas said, sounding far too pleased.

“Great,” Mike said, but he also leaned into the hug.

“Also I wish you would let me yell at your dad,” she offered.

“Don’t yell at my dad.”

“Can  _ I _ yell at your dad?” Dustin asked.

“No.”

“Damn.”

“Can  _ I…?” _

_ “Lucas.” _

**

“I wouldn’t cheat on you,” Lucas blurted.

“Lucas,” Max said slowly as she threw away her empty popcorn bucket. “Are you talking about the time I teased you for cuddling Mike, which happened  _ several _ days ago?”

“I’m… No! In general. I would never,” Lucas said.

“I know that,” Max said slowly. “But Lucas, we just had an entire date, and you’re suddenly blurting that you would never cheat on me a few days after I teased you for cuddling Mike, and I really feel like you’ve spent our entire date thinking about…”

“I was not thinking about Mike!” Lucas said hurriedly. “I mean, okay, a little, because, like, I know we agreed to watch this movie a while ago and I really enjoyed having a date with you, like, so much, as always, but…”

He was practically sweating under her look, so she took pity on him. “But he recently broke up with El and you’re worried about him and you feel a little bad going on a date while your buddy is dealing with a break up, right?”

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes, exactly, that’s all.”

Max really wanted to leave it at that, but at some point they were going to have to talk this out or risk it snowballing into something bigger. “And you thought if you said that about  _ my _ friend who at this point I practically live with… I’d accuse you of cheating… why?” Max asked.

“Uh,” Lucas said, swallowing, and then, “Look, I don’t want to break up.”

“Neither do I,” Max said patiently.

He stared at her like a deer in headlights.

He wasn’t going to be able to spit it out, she realized. “But you like Mike.”

“Um,” Lucas said, the deer-in-headlights look increasing exponentially.

Despite her best efforts, Max found herself spitting out a strangled laugh. “Oh my god you have a crush on your best friend, that’s soooo…”

Lucas clapped a hand over her mouth frantically. “Max! Stop! Max! I do not…! It’s not a crush!”

His hands didn’t do much to block out the melody of Max singing, “Mike and Lucas sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s…!”

“Stop!” Lucas said. “I don’t… Look, I love  _ you,  _ okay?”

Max pulled his hands away. “I know that,” she said. That didn’t seem to calm him much, so she squeezed his wrists. “Look, I freaked out about breaking up too, because… I mean, Mike and El? They were so doofy in love and now they’re not, but… We’re not breaking up, alright? Not if neither of us wants to.”

Lucas looked her up and down, letting out a slow breath. “Okay, good.”

She mulled it over, not wanting to be  _ too _ flippant. But the fact was she liked Mike. She liked the idea of the three of them. It felt like a family, one that didn’t mean settling down like her mom to pop out a kid way too early and having it slowly destroy her relationship by the time that kid was old enough to understand what was happening. “I could share, though,” she said.

“Uh, what?” Lucas said, his voice that baffled little flat tone she always found adorable.

“Last week, Mike called  _ me _ his best friend. He’s got like  _ five _ best friends, and you can’t have a boyfriend and a girlfriend? Seems pretty unfair,” Max said, grinning.

“Wh… I… No!” Lucas protested. “Are you serious?”

She stopped walking and wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him in place. “I am if you want me to be.”

It was worth it just to see his jaw drop. He quickly caught himself. “I don’t want to date Mike,” he insisted.

“Hmm,” Max said, trying to swallow down a smirk.

“I don’t!”

“Not even if you don’t have to break up with me to do it?” Max asked.

Lucas opened his mouth to answer, but didn’t. She tried not to laugh, she really did, but it came out as a deeply undignified snort.

“Max,” Lucas protested.

She took a large breath and swallowed down the laughter. “I’m sorry. I’m seriously not joking, though. Just… in case you want to think things over, you know?” She smiled at him. “You don’t have to worry about me getting mad or breaking up with you. For real.”

Lucas shifted from foot to foot. “It’s just that when we first met El I was  _ really _ jealous,” he said in a rush, like the words had left him on their own. He groaned, as though it was just coming back to him. “Mike was so googly-eyed over her he never thought anything over and I was…” He huffed, embarrassed. 

“Wow, that doesn’t sound like Mike at all,” Max teased.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Right? But then I figured Mike and El would be together forever and!” He started, like he’d just realized a grave mistake and was scrambling to correct it. “And I met you! Which is the more important part!”

“Lucas,” Max said, trying not to giggle. “I already said I wasn’t mad.”

“I know! But,” Lucas said, “I feel like you should be.”

She nodded. “I know. But I’m not.”

“You’d really be alright with me…?” Lucas asked.

“Yes,” Max promised.

Lucas took a deep breath. “Are you staying over at Mike’s tonight?”

“Yeah. As usual. I think the basement is slowly becoming my room.” She paused. “Is that okay?”

He sighed. “Just don’t say anything to him yet, okay?”

“I won’t,” she promised.

“I really like you, you know that?” Lucas murmured, hugging her close.

“I  _ do _ know that,” she said, kissing his cheek.

He hugged her tighter. “Good.”

**

“Would you like any seconds, Max?” Karen asked.

“No thank you, Mrs. Wheeler,” Max said, pressing her hair behind her ear.

“Mike, are you done with your food?” Karen pressed.

Mike sighed and nodded, giving up on the bite of meatloaf he’d been pushing around for half a minute now.

“Could you maybe… help me with the dishes, then, Max?” Karen asked.

“Sure,” Max said, helping gather the dishes. She tapped Mike on the shoulder. “Plug in the Genesis, will you?”

He nodded, handing her his plate.

Max joined her in the kitchen, watching as Karen chewed over her words. “So, I hear Mike broke up with his girlfriend,” she said.

“Yep,” Max said awkwardly.

Karen perched on the balls of her feet nervously. “He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it.”

“He’s okay, Mrs. Wheeler,” Max assured her.

“Please, it’s Karen,” Karen said.

Max smiled at her awkwardly. She didn’t know how to feel about Karen. She was a cool lady underneath it all, but how did you befriend someone actively trying  _ not  _ to be cool or interesting?

Karen cleared her throat, reaching for the sink. “So you’re still…” Karen said slowly.

“Still with Lucas, yeah,” Max said.

Karen winced. “I didn’t mean to imply anything. It’s just Mike never talks to me about anything and…”

“It’s alright, Mrs… Karen,” Max said. “You’ve shown me a lot of hospitality, I don’t mind the odd question. I know it’s kind of weird that I’m here all the time.”

“It’s no trouble, really,” Karen said. “In fact, it’s nice having more people in the house. After Nancy moved out, well…”

She sighed and glanced at Ted. Ted hadn’t moved from the table despite the dishes being packed up and the table being empty. He seemed to be gazing out the window, worrying at his fingers.

“Is… Mr. Wheeler feeling okay?” Max asked.

“Oh, I think he’s had something weighing on him at work,” Karen said. “But who knows. He doesn’t talk to me either.”

Max swallowed. She liked Karen, really. Karen didn’t understand Mike one bit, which gave Max a few reasons to be annoyed at her every few months, but it wasn’t entirely her fault. “You know, if you want more help with the chores,” Max offered, “it really has been a lot of help that I can stay here more often.”

“Oh,” Karen said, smiling. “No, I’m alright, Max. I’m glad Mike feels comfortable to extend help to someone who doesn’t… well, who doesn’t feel comfortable at home. You should feel free to spend time with him. I’m sure he needs it. And I’m hardly the world’s first lonely housewife.”

Max bit her lip.

“Really,” Karen insisted. “Just make sure Mike feels comfortable talking to me if he needs to, alright?”

“Will do,” Max said.

“Thank you,” Karen said. “Thank you for helping me pick up the dishes.”

“Any time,” Max promised, glancing at Ted one more time before she joined Mike in the basement. He hadn’t moved. 

She found Mike hooking up the game console when she came down.

“Hey, your dad’s being super weird,” she informed him.

“He’s always being weird,” Mike said.

“Like, weirder than usual,” Max replied, throwing herself on the couch.

Mike sighed, handing her the controller. “Max,” he whined. “My dad’s just a weird potato man who doesn’t have feelings and he always will be.”

“Okay, okay,” Max said, taking the controller from him and resting her head back against the arm of the couch. “C’mere.”

Mike blinked at her. “Where?”

“Under my arm, dipshit,” she said, raising her arm.

“Why?” he asked, wrinkling his nose.

“Because I just promised your mom I’d take care of you,” Max said.

“Okay?” Mike muttered, slinking under her arm. “Would Lucas be okay with this?”

“I’m not fucking flirting with you,” she said.  _ Also, that’s  _ really _ not a concern. _ “It’s just a little affection.”

Mike grumbled at her.

“Does it not feel good?” she asked.

“I mean, yeah, I guess,” Mike said under his breath.  _ “You’re _ being weird.”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are!”

Max blew a raspberry at him.

“Real mature,” Mike griped.

She looked him over. He’d looked exhausted lately. “You okay, Wheeler?”

He hummed noncommittally. “About El? Sure.”

“In general?”

“I don’t know,” Mike said. “I guess I’m just a little… I don’t know.”

“Tired?” Max suggested. It had been the best she could get out of him since that day.

Mike sighed, resting his head against her shoulder. “That’s one word for it.”

She paused, then slowly started her game, giving him a little room to breathe.

“I just don’t know what I want anymore,” Mike mumbled. “And I can’t tell if I’m numb or if all the, like, bad feelings are just getting a lot louder now.”

“I always thought you did do a lot of hiding behind your feelings for El,” Max admitted.

“Shut up,” Mike muttered. “And then even when I do think there’s things I might want…” He paused, clearing his throat, voice going quieter. “They’re, like… not good ideas.”

She paused. “I mean, as long as you’re not hurting anyone or yourself… it’s not like dumb is new for you.”

Mike went silent. After a moment, he said, “You know, I don’t think El ever held me.”

Max bit her tongue before she could blurt out something condescending. She had no idea what to say instead, though.

“Sorry,” Mike said. “That was super weird. I just mean… I mean, I’m not… I don’t like… Or Lucas, you know, I don’t have like… you know, like…” 

“Yes?” she teased.

He groaned. “Nothing.”

She paused, feeling off balance at the way he hadn’t fired back at her teasing. They bickered. It was their thing. “Hey. You can talk to me about anything, you know that, right?”

“Sure,” Mike said, and didn’t.

She sighed and poked him in the side in lieu of anything good to say.

Mike jolted, then groaned. “You’re a pain in the ass.”

_ “You’re _ a pain in the ass.”

Mike’s nose pressed against her neck and he yawned. “Whatever. Go back to your game.”

“Go back to sleep, grandpa.”

Mike let out a frustrated noise at her, but at the same time he relaxed against her, watching her play the game.

**

Somewhere deep in Siberia, an alarm continued blaring as a hapless Russian guard raced down a long hallway to unlock a cell door, hoping for another body to fight whatever had set off these alarms.

He faltered when it seemed he had stumbled into an empty cell.

A moment later, he had a fraction of a second of clarity as the door was slammed into his face by the large figure who had done a surprisingly good job of hiding behind it, before he was plunged into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is gonna be a lucas chapter and i can only hope i can do justice to the, like, 3-way mutual pining thing i'm trying to do here with his perspective


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to @yuleshootureye_ for pointing out what an excellent wheelclair movie princess bride is and i can only hope someday someone takes mercy on me and does art of them as westley and buttercup someday

Lucas sighed heavily.

“Could you  _ stop?” _ Erica growled, sticking her head in the door.

“No!” Lucas snapped. “Go away, I’m thinking!”

“Okay, well whatever you’ve been  _ thinking _ about, you’ve been doing it  _ all day.  _ I can’t hear my biology homework over whatever drama you’ve got going on now,” Erica said, putting a hand on her hip.

Lucas sat up and gestured at the door. “So keep my door closed!”

Erica pursed her lips. “It  _ was _ closed. I can hear you through the wall.”

“Then listen to your Walkman or something!” Lucas said.

“You better buy me new batteries,” she said, then slammed the door behind herself as she stalked away.

Lucas groaned, flopping back onto the bed to stare solemnly at the ceiling again.

Good god, if he started dating Mike and Max at the same time and Erica ever found out, she would end him. His parents would kill him, probably. He’d be trying to explain that Max had allowed it from out of the grave.

But at the same time…

He rolled over onto his stomach and pulled a pillow over his head to groan loudly into the mattress without alerting Erica.

Max was fine if he liked Mike. In fact, she seemed kind of charmed by the idea. So  _ did _ he like Mike? He tried it out in his mind, feeling kind of like a pre-teen trying to practice kissing on his hand. 

Mike was very tall, but he had a sort of delicateness to him, too. He’d be wonderful to hold, and he was certainly good to look at.

From what Lucas had gathered from knowing El and having eyes, Mike liked making out. Like, a lot. Max was neutral on making out, but Mike would probably be super into it.

And Mike was… well, he was  _ Mike. _ In a lot of ways, though he was sure this would elicit a lot of arguments from both of them, he was a lot like Max. Tenacious, clever, loyal, passionate… except Mike wasn’t as cool as Max, in the cutest way, and…

Lucas tossed the pillow aside so he could roll over and moan despondently in the room.

“Lucas! Shut! Up!” Erica yelled from the other room.

“YOU shut up!” Lucas shouted back.

He liked Mike Wheeler.

“Fuck,” he whispered into the empty room.

**

Fall break was over, which meant school. Which meant opportunities to see Mike without Max necessarily being there, because he and Mike had taken physics while Max and Dustin had opted for chemistry.

Which was just ironic.

They’d also decided to be lab partners, which had seemed like a spectacular idea at the time. Because, you know, they made a great team.

But Lucas hadn’t expected to fall in love with Mike Wheeler at the start of the semester.

Or, at least, he hadn’t expected the fact that he was a little bit in love with Mike Wheeler to become so  _ relevant _ this semester.

“What?” Mike asked as he adjusted the prism they were working with today. He had very long fingers which were surprisingly broad for the rest of him. “Do I have something on my face?”

“No,” Lucas said automatically, though there was a small beam of light dancing on it that looked very pretty.

“Lucas,” Mike said. “What’s going on with you?”

“Nothing!” Lucas said, leaning onto the bench with a smile he hoped was disarming. “What’s up with you?”

_ “What?” _ Mike asked, his nose scrunching in a very characteristic way that was very sweet and which reminded Lucas of a lot of the things he liked in Max. He groaned. “Did Max say something weird to you?”

“What?” Lucas blurted. “No! Why would you ask me that?”

“Okay, nothing happened between us,” Mike said. “Like, not more than between you and me, which was also super not weird. You guys are just normal friends of mine who occasionally…”

Lucas put up a hand for him to slow down. “Wait, what? What happened between you and Max?”

“Nothing!” Mike said. “She just kind of, like, held me. In a way that… was really nice. But honestly it was nicer when you held me. In… Not in a weird way, though, just like… It’s been weird, being broken up with El, and you guys were there, in a friend way, and…”

“Okay, I…” Lucas sighed, waving his hands. “Can we just finish this lab without freaking out?”

“Yeah,” Mike said, relieved. “Nothing to freak out over. Friends hold each other all the time, right?”

“Yeah,” Lucas agreed. “Totally.”

**

“You were right,” Lucas said, flopping down next to Max, hurriedly leaning in before Mike finished getting lunch.

“Obviously,” Max said. “About what?”

“About the fact that I am in love with Mike Wheeler, is what!” Lucas hissed at her.

“Wait, what?” Dustin asked, leaning in. “Are you guys breaking up too?”

“No!” they said at once.

Dustin nodded slowly.

Max rolled her eyes. “Ever since I teased Mike and Lucas, Lucas has been having a gay crisis…”

“I wouldn’t call it a  _ crisis…” _

“... and I told him I was fine with it if he wanted to date me  _ and  _ Mike, so now he’s having an even bigger, gayer crisis,” Max explained.

“Hang on, hang on,” Dustin said. “So you’re fine with dating two dudes, but you couldn’t date me and Lucas?”

“Dustin, how many girls have you gotten to kiss since we started high school?” Max asked with a sickly sweet smile.

“Touche,” Dustin said.

“Besides,  _ I _ wouldn’t be dating two people, Lucas would,” Max said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

“Okay, but you’re, like, in the relationship with both of them, right?” Dustin asked. “So aren’t you kind of dating Mike by extension?”

“I don’t know,” Max said, shaking her head. “I haven’t gotten that far. Lucas hasn’t even decided if he wants to do it yet.”

“I wish you’d never offered me this option,” Lucas groaned, pulling his jacket over his head in misery.

“Oh, this is beautiful,” Dustin said, resting his chin on his fist. “Lucas, the  _ playa’.” _

“Well now you’re just being racist,” Lucas protested.

“I am  _ not,” _ Dustin protested.

“Yes, you are!” Lucas said. “I’m not  _ playin’ _ anyone. And what’s that accent, huh?”

“You’re just embarrassed!”

“Of course I’m embarrassed. You’re still using--!”

“What are we talking about?” Mike asked.

“Nothing,” Lucas said, at the same time Dustin said, “Everything.”

Lucas smacked him lightly.

“Okay, okay, sorry,” Dustin whined.

Mike settled into his seat - next to Lucas, which was where he usually sat, but now Lucas was so aware of the way Mike’s legs were so long he had to step into the seat in several steps and the way his elbow fell against Lucas’s - and gave them an odd look. “Okay then,” he said.

Lucas swallowed down his pounding heart and unwrapped his lunch from home. 

“So I don’t think I can go over to your place tonight,” Max said. “My mom needs me to help her with reorganizing the garage, apparently.”

“Okay,” Mike said, not entirely paying attention. “Have fun.”

“Oh, I will,” Max sighed. “But Lucas could provide a little company, right Lucas?”

Mike groaned. “I’m not a kid. I don’t need babysitting.”

Lucas glared at Max for a moment, then cleared his throat and looked at Mike. “I mean,” he said, “I’d love to come over.”

Mike seemed to have forgotten his argumentative side from just a moment ago. “Oh, okay,” he said, sounding relieved. “Cool.”

Their eyes met - and Mike had nice  _ eyes  _ too?! - and there was a moment of something, something warm and a little exciting, before they both tried to break the tension by blurting,  _ “Dustin?” _

Dustin gave them an unimpressed look. “No. I’m hanging out with Erica tonight.”

Lucas wrinkled his nose. “Why are you friends with my sister again?” Lucas asked.

“Your sister’s cool, man,” Dustin protested. “And she’s gonna go through my character stats for D&D so I can mow all you losers down next time we play.”

“Gross,” Lucas said. “Well, whatever, have fun with my psycho little sister. Mike, I’m driving you home anyway, why don’t we grab some junk food and a movie and hang after?”

Unlike Lucas’s parents, Mike’s parents had gotten him a car for his 16th. Lucas had been disappointed to get only a lecture about fiscal responsibility from his own parents until it had turned into a huge fight between Nancy and Ted about why it was that her little brother had gotten a car and she hadn’t even upon  _ moving out _ as an adult (or rather, Nancy had ranted at Karen, who hadn’t been asked about the decision either, and they’d both turned their aggression and passive aggression on Ted, who’d absorbed precisely none of it from beyond his newspaper) and Mike had decided he was never going to learn to drive and handed Lucas the keys to use as he pleased.

Which essentially meant that Lucas now had a car, so long as he didn’t draw his parents attention to it.

“Yeah, sure,” Mike said. “Sounds good.”

“It’s a date,” Lucas said.

They stared at each other for a long moment. Mike’s eyes had gone very wide, tilted up towards Lucas as he ducked his chin awkwardly.

“I mean, not a date-date,” Lucas laughed. “Like… just the expression.”

“This is amazing to watch,” Dustin whispered to Max loudly.

She snorted and dabbed a bit of chocolate pudding onto his nose.

**

The car ride to the rental place was long and awkward and silent.

Lucas knew what he had to do: he just had to tell Mike what Max had said and ask if he felt the same way. In principle, it was very simple.

It was just that the actual  _ words _ were so much harder.

_ Hey Mike, I know you just broke up with your girlfriend like a week ago, but you said you guys had been gearing up to do it in person for, like, months, so are you ready to contemplate dating, like, maybe, me? And just to be clear, I’m  _ not _ going to break up with  _ my  _ girlfriend for this, but hey, she’s cool with it, so if you’re cool with it too… _

He pulled into the parking lot and stood there, car idling, taking deep breaths.

“Um,” he said, at the same time as Mike said, “So…”

They peered at each other, both trying to say, “Go ahead,” or, “You go first,” at the same time. And then again.

“Nevermind,” Mike said finally, clearing his throat.

“Yeah, I just…” Lucas murmured, “uh, nothing.”

“Right,” Mike said, clearing his throat. “So uh… we getting a movie or not?”

“Yeah,” Lucas said, all but bolting out of the car.

Steve was at the counter when they came in. “Oh, it’s you,” he said upon seeing them.

“Mhmm,” Mike mumbled, earning a raised eyebrow from Steve. Mike missing out on an opportunity to snark was a strange occurrence indeed.

They peered into the tightly packed shelves blankly. Lucas could only assumed Mike was realizing the same thing as Lucas - it was hard to focus on movies when you had someone next to you whose hand you desperately wanted to hold.

“Alright, boys,” Robin said, leaning on the shelf, “what can I get you? Romance…”

“No!” Mike blurted. “That’s not… no!”

Lucas smacked a hand over his face. Mike was the most unsubtle person on the planet.

“I mean, that was going to be a list, but…” Robin drawled, glancing between them. “Where’s Max?”

“Busy,” Lucas said.

“She knows we’re hanging out,” Mike said quickly.

_ Oh, Mike, if only you knew…  _ Lucas thought. He sighed. “We’re just looking for a movie,” he said. “Got any recommendations?”

“Yeah,” Robin said, giving Mike a suspicious look while Mike seemingly tried to melt into the ground. She slipped away for a moment, then returned with a movie. “Princess Bride. Came out last year.”

“Thanks,” Mike muttered, taking it from her and avoiding her eyes.

“Heard about the break up,” she said, as softly as Robin got. “Sorry man.”

Mike shrugged.

“You okay about it?” Steve asked as Mike handed him the movie to ring up.

“Yeah,” Mike said. “We’re still friends.”

“Good,” Steve said. “That’s good.”

There was an odd sense of  _ hey are you over my sister yet?  _ lingering in the air between them, but Mike simply nodded as thanks and trailed out of the store after Lucas.

**

When they arrived, Ted was in the chair, but the TV wasn’t on. “Don’t forget to take out the trash,” Ted called, not moving his eyes from the blank TV. 

_ “Okay,” _ Mike griped, striding even faster towards the basement.

“Is your dad alright?” Lucas asked.

“I don’t  _ know,  _ okay?” Mike snapped. He busied himself getting out the cassette from the box and sliding it into the VCR. “Max keeps asking about it. Mom says there’s layoffs at his company or whatever.”

“Oh,” Lucas said, sinking down into the couch. “Alright.”

Mike settled down beside him, arm brushing against Lucas’s. He faltered at the contact, like he was trying to decide whether or not to pull his arm away. His eyes flickered around the room, and Lucas wished it was as easy as just taking Mike’s face into his hand and kissing him.

But no, he had to  _ explain _ things. Just when Lucas had gotten good at kissing, there were more challenges standing between him and pushing his lips against Mike’s. Like the fact that he had to think of a good way to tell Mike that  _ hey, Max, like, okayed this. I mean, okay, she didn’t technically say anything about kissing, but like, she said we could all date, which includes kissing, right? So, like, how about we makeout and totally rest easy knowing Max is fine with it. For some reason. Somehow. _

Mike didn’t pull his arm away, but his hands kept worrying at his pants. They were khakis, the same kind of dorky pants he’d been wearing since elementary. That sent an odd bit of fondness through Lucas, a fondness that made it all too obvious that the movie Robin had picked had been a very  _ pointed  _ pick.

“I think,” Lucas said, hoping that he could somehow make this segue into some very important talks he was supposed to be having right now, “Robin thinks you’re Buttercup.”

Mike paused the movie, taking a sharp breath. “Um,” he managed, then stopped.

Lucas tried to relax his body, soften his face. “I mean, you’re not Westley, that’s for sure,” he teased.

“Lucas,” Mike managed, voice shaking quivering a little.

Lucas slid even closer than they already were, putting an arm around him. Mike only stiffened. “Hey,” he said. “Talk to me.”

“Is it possible to feel numb and scared at the same time?” Mike mumbled.

“Scared of what?” Lucas asked, resisting the urge to thumb at his arm. Instead, he gripped it tightly, reassuringly.

“That I’m already a washed up nobody at eighteen?” Mike tried. “That I don’t want anything and I’m just screwing up everything for everyone? I screwed up with El and now I don’t know if I can be there for her anymore and what if she needed me, Lucas? And I couldn’t even stay in love with her?”

“Mike, El’s fine,” Lucas said. “She’s badass.”

Mike smacked him away, bouncing to his feet. “I know that! I know she’s badass! But the last time you guys said that, she nearly  _ died _ and she lost her powers for like a year and she lost her  _ dad _ and… and that was when I was  _ there _ for her, and now I don’t know how to be, and I don’t understand  _ why.  _ What if I’m like this with… with everyone? My parents never loved each other, what if there’s something wrong with them, or me, or… I mean, what if I’m just fooling myself with… with…” He shook his head. “Like, about love? Or what it feels like?”

“You’re not,” Lucas said. “El meant the world to you and then things changed and now she means the world to you in another way.”

“Well, what if this way means I can’t… I don’t know, I can’t be there for her to call when she has nightmares or when she doesn’t know what a word means or…”

“Mike,” Lucas said. “You’re a good friend. If she needs you, she’ll call. Hasn’t she already called?”

“Yeah, to ask how  _ I’m  _ doing!” Mike said. “And I don’t even know! Max keeps talking about how my dad’s being weird, and he  _ is _ being weird, and being single is weird, and I’m being weird and everything’s just fucking  _ weird _ and I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m just scared that I’m going to screw up even more.”

“What are you going to screw up?” Lucas asked. “You’re not screwing up anything.”

“With you and Max!” Mike cried. “I’m… I’m just being so fucking  _ weird _ and I don’t even know if I know what… what…” He stopped, giving Lucas a look of desperation.

“Know what?” Lucas asked. He was pretty sure he knew the answer, but he didn’t want to jump the gun. Not now.

“Nothing,” Mike said, voice cracking. “I don’t want to… I just…” He let out a shaky breath.

Lucas swallowed. He held out his hands. “Mike, sit,” he said.

“Why?!” Mike shouted, seemingly just for the sake of shouting.

“Because you need a hug!” Lucas yelled back.

Mike threw up his hands, but even in his fury he sank down next to Lucas, letting Lucas wrap his arms around him. “Happy?!” he snapped.

“Yes!” Lucas retorted. “And now listen to me!”

“Fine!”

“Great! You’re not screwing anything up with me and Max or  _ for _ me and Max. I  _ know _ things have been weird, but we’ve talked over the weird stuff and we’re both  _ fine. _ Okay? And El’s fine too, and your dad has  _ always  _ been weird, right? So just ignore Max about that one, because we’re all doing just  _ fine.” _

“But…” Mike muttered, sinking against Lucas’s shoulder.

“Mike, stop,” Lucas said gently. “Just relax. You’re not screwing up anything. Could you trust me for once?”

“I always trust you!”

“Uh, no, you don’t.”

“I do!”

“No, you don’t!”

“Just because I don’t always  _ agree  _ with you don’t mean I don’t--”

“Mike!” Lucas interrupted. “Just  _ stop _ arguing! You’re  _ okay,  _ alright? I’ve got you.”

Mike gave up, going limp against his shoulder. Lucas let out a sigh of relief. “Max did the same thing, so if she gets weird about--” Mike started.

“Mike,” Lucas groaned. “Stop. There’s no problem with me and you and Max, okay? I promise.”

“But what if--”

“Mike,  _ trust _ me,” Lucas said. “Alright? The last thing you should be worrying about is me and Max, okay? We just want to help you through this. Both of us.”

“Am I being--?”

“Super annoying about it? Yeah,” Lucas jabbed. “Mike, we  _ want _ to take care of you. Could you just  _ chill _ and let us?”

_ “Fine,” _ Mike griped into his shoulder.

Lucas sighed and settled back, laying down with Mike on his chest. It was nice how Mike slotted into the curve of his chest, arm pressed between them almost daintily. How warm he was, relaxing into Lucas’s arms.

“You’re okay,” Lucas said. “I’ll tell you if anything is wrong, okay? And so will Max.”

“Okay,” Mike murmured.

They started the movie again.

“You’re totally Buttercup, though,” Lucas teased.

Mike huffed at him. “Shut up.”

**

“So,” Max teased, poking his side with her foot. “Did you talk to him?”

“Not exactly,” Lucas admitted.

“Lucas,” she groaned, admonishing. “Come on, I know you want to!”

“I do,” Lucas said. “Eventually. But I don’t think he’s up for it yet.”

She paused at that. “Did something happen?”

“Not… really…” Lucas said. “He just sort of had a freakout. Like, maybe he’s over his feelings for El, but I don’t think he’s really over his feelings about breaking up in general?”

Max nodded. “Yeah, okay.”

“I tried to calm him down about stuff,” Lucas said, “but I just really don’t think he needs more curveballs in his life right now.”

“Alright, alright,” Max said. “Surprisingly, you’re right.”

“Oh, surprisingly?” Lucas said, crossing his arms.

Max rolled her eyes. “Maybe not so surprisingly. You’re pretty good with Mike.”

“Just Mike, huh?” Lucas grinned, coming up to brush his nose against her.

“Yeah, who else?” Max laughed.

“I don’t know, I think I recall having a girlfriend or something…”

Max snorted. “You  _ think _ you  _ might _ just recall your girlfriend?”

“Yeah, kind of rings a bell. Redhead, feisty, won’t admit she thinks I’m cool…”

“I don’t think you’re cool,” Max said. “I think you’re a dork. You’re just lucky I’m into that.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s just luck.”

“Absolutely,” Max said, yelping when Lucas dragged her into his lap. “What else would it be?”

“Beats me,” Lucas said, and kissed her.

He’d ask Mike later. They had time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do they though
> 
> sadly next chapter we have... a plot


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is lovingly titled "ain, back on their bullshit"

“El’s at work right now,” Joyce said the moment she realized it was him.

(El had been been working in a warehouse for two years now. She’d been using her powers for loading to speed up her work while no one was watching, which had been a relief for the Byers’, especially with Jonathan working alongside university and sending some money home and Will’s job at a craft store.)

Mike winced. He felt awful for this already. “Actually, uh,” he managed. “That’s fine. I wanted to talk to Will.”

“Oh, right,” Joyce said. “Of course. Just a second.”

Mike waited on the line, palms sweaty, until he heard Will’s voice on the line. “Hey,” he said. “Everything okay?”

“Uh,” Mike said. “Yes.”

He wasn’t actually very good at keeping in touch with Will over the phone. Will wasn’t a talker, and Mike couldn’t babble like Dustin could. Dustin called Will over Cerebro all the time. Mike just tried to pack all his Will time into whenever he was visiting anyway and they could play D&D.

“Dustin says it’s been… kind of a mess over there,” Will said carefully.

“Uh, yeah,” Mike said. “That’s… actually. Um. How did you know you were gay?”

Will was quiet for a long time. “You’re not gonna like it,” he said finally.

“Why?” Mike said nervously.

“Well,” Will said, and then laughed a little. “I sort of had a crush on you in middle school.”

That thought clanged around in Mike’s brain a few times before he managed to squeak out a strangled, “What?”

“I’m sorry,” Will said, sounding mostly amused. “It’s just, you know, no one really knew I was gay, not for real, and so I was sort of trying to keep it close to home, and you were good looking and really nice to me, so…”

“Oh, god,” Mike managed. “Oh, fuck, I had no idea.”

“Yeah, that was pretty clear,” Will said.

Mike slammed his head against the wall, groaning. “I am  _ so _ sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Will said. “Actually once we moved and I had a chance to look around in high school, I kind of realized it was more that you were just there, you know? Plus you were sort of dating my sister then, so…”

Mike groaned even louder. “I’m a dick.”

“Mike,” Will laughed. “Seriously, it’s fine. You didn’t know. It’s not like I really wanted you to know.”

“So you… I mean, you got over it, right?” Mike said.

“Yeah,” Will said gently. “Totally. Turns out I kind of like buffer guys.”

Mike huffed a laugh at that. “Uh, yeah, not me.”

“Not really, no.”

Mike closed his eyes. “Also, um, that’s not super helpful for my situation.”

“Because Lucas  _ is _ your type?” Will offered.

“Oh, no,” Mike muttered into the wall. “Dustin told you, didn’t he?”

Will paused, then admitted, “Yeah.”

“Oh, god, everyone knows,” Mike moaned.

Will somehow paused even harder this time. “Yeah.”

“El?”

“Oh, yeah, she talked to Max.”

_ “Max _ knows?”

“Max definitely knows,” Will said.

“Oh  _ no,” _ Mike said, sliding down onto the floor and burying his head into his knees. “Fuck!”

“She’s not mad, you know,” Will said.

“Maybe I’ll just get over it,” Mike said, almost like he was pleading with the universe. “Like, maybe it’s… it’s just like what happened to you!”

“Maybe,” Will said.

“You don’t think so,” Mike said.

“That’s alright,” Will said, good-natured as ever. “I could be wrong.”

“Will.”

“It’s just,” Will said, “I sort of got over you when I got to know El and I realized I’d sort of been projecting feelings onto you and also her. And you already know Max. Like, really well.”

“Right, so…” Will said. “I don’t think you’re just avoiding reality by falling for your best friend’s boyfriend. Who is, uh, also your best friend. Actually, have you considered maybe having a best-best friend so it’s less confusing.”

“No, Will, that defeats the whole purpose,” Mike groaned. “You’re  _ all _ my best friends, and that’s not the  _ point.  _ I…” He sighed. “Do you think I really like Lucas? And not just whatever I thought I felt about El?”

“Mike,” Will said. “I don’t think you  _ thought _ you felt it, you did feel it. It’s just you’re not the same people you were when you were fourteen. That doesn’t mean you don’t know your own feelings, it just means you grew as people, right?”

“I mean,” Mike said, though that reasoning from Will’s soft voice had at least one of the knots in his stomach finally loosening up. It was hard to deal with a situation when you didn’t even know if it was a situation, and you didn’t know if it was a situation because you were scared you couldn’t fall in love because you felt all chewed up and spit out and your parents had never loved each other. “Yeah, I guess.”

“And Mike,” Will said. “I spent an entire summer watching you fall all over yourself believing without question that Lucas was the smoothest person on the planet.”

“I did  _ not,” _ Mike protested.

“You absolutely did.”

“He knew what he was talking about!”

“He really didn’t.”

“It  _ worked, _ didn’t it? El and I got back together!”

“Yeah, but  _ definitely _ not because of Lucas’s advice.”

“Wh… You… That’s not…!” Mike said, though frankly he couldn’t remember when he and El had officially un-broken up that summer. He could, however, remember Lucas’s broad hand on his ankle, crossing Mike’s legs and telling him softly to relax.

And giving, in retrospect, very bad advice.

“Oh god this didn’t come out of nowhere, did it?” Mike blurted. “Oh, no.”

“Probably not, no,” Will said apologetically.

“Oh, fuck, fuck,  _ fuck,” _ Mike whined. “Will, this is bad. I have to get over it somehow. How do you fall out of love on purpose?”

“Maybe you should just wait and see what happens,” Will suggested.

“What happens?!” Mike blurted. “What could possibly happen? Either Max and Lucas break up, because of me, or… or… I don’t know! But I can’t do that to Max even if Lucas  _ did _ feel the same way and… shit, do you think Lucas knows?!”

“I think they both just want you to be okay,” Will said softly. “So, you know, don’t freak out. Just calm down and talk to them about it when you’re ready, alright?”

Mike whined into the wall.

Will laughed a little.

“What could possibly be funny in a time like this?”

“Sorry, it’s just…” Will said. “This morning I was teaching El how to draw a cat and now I’m talking you through having a crush on a guy. If I’d known three or four years ago this was where I’d end up, I’d have been devastated.”

Mike bit his lip. “But it’s okay now?”

“It’s super okay now,” Will said. “It’s hilarious. I’m gonna tell Harry later, he’ll find it super funny.”

“I… I hadn’t realized he was your boyfriend,” Mike mumbled. “Sorry if I wasn’t supportive or whatever.”

“You looked a little empty behind the eyes, yeah,” Will said. “It’s okay. I figured you’d get there eventually.”

“Wow, okay,” Mike huffed. “Jeez.”

“It’s  _ true.” _

Mike pouted. He was glad Will was up to teasing him, but it was a little too effective. Mike felt like a real fucking idiot at the moment.

There was a banging of doors upstairs. “Hey, Mike?” Max called.

“Oh, shit, Max is here, I gotta go talk to her,” Mike said hurriedly.

“Don’t be stupid,” Will said.

“Uh, yeah, sure, bye,” Mike said, and hung up a little too quickly.

He’d have to call Will again and thank him for being so understanding and probably apologize for hanging up too quickly and possibly many other things, but for now he was, for some reason he couldn’t comprehend, snatching his hand behind his back and facing Max.

“Hey, uh,” he said. “Can we talk?”

“Um,” Max said, cheeks tinged pink. “In a second?”

Mike looked her over. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Max said, blushing harder. “Well, okay, so, Neil was being a total  _ fuckhead…” _

Mike nodded. So far so good.

“And I was tired of him, and I went skating but then um… well,” she said, plucking at her sweater, which was tied around her waist, “sorry for, like, letting myself in, but uh, I sort of… Do you still have the pads I use?”

“Oh, shit, let me check,” Mike said, rushing up the stairs and checking the toiletry closet. “Uh, no, just tampons and overnight pads.”

“Ugh,” Max said, wrinking her nose. “I’ll use the tampons.”

“No, come on,” Mike said, pushing her towards the bathroom. “Wash off, wash your pants, I’ll give you some black pants from Nancy’s old clothes and I’ll just bike to the store and get the stuff you like. I still remember what you wanted last time.”

“Seriously?” Max said. “Not even Lucas remembers that.”

“Yes he does, he’s just overcompensating for his sister by pretending he doesn’t know anything about that stuff,” Mike said, shoving her into the bathroom. “I’ll grab some sweatpants and then I’ll head out, just put down a towel over the sofa or something.”

“You’re a lifesaver,” Max said, and kissed him on the cheek.

“Uh, yeah,” Mike said guilt hitting him hard. He whirled around towards Nancy’s room and nearly ran into the wall. “Sorry.” He avoided her look as he rushed to Nancy’s room and grabbed some sweatpants.

He opened the door a crack and pressed the pants inside. “Here.”

“Thanks,” Max said.

“I’ll hurry,” Mike said, shutting the door and taking a deep breath.

There was probably a special place in hell for people who stole boyfriends from friends so close they knew what pads they liked, but that was a concern for later.

He made his way down the stairs and towards the garage, nearly colliding with Ted on the way down.

“Going somewhere?” Ted asked, pursing his lips.

“Uh, yeah,” Mike said. “I have to run to the store.”

Ted sighed. “I might as well give you a lift.”

“Oh,” Mike said. “Uh, okay?”

Ted hadn’t offered him help with anything unprompted since… well, actually, Mike was having trouble remembering any time that had ever happened.

But there he was, getting his keys and pulling on his coat. Mike stared at him as he grabbed his own coat, pulling it on and following Ted into the garage. He slipped into the driver’s seat, eyes still on Ted as he started the car.

His face betrayed nothing.

“Uh, thanks?” Mike tried.

“Don’t sound so surprised,” Ted said. “The store isn’t far.”

Mike blinked at the road. “Did you get fired?” he asked.

“Now why would you think that?” Ted said. His face still hadn’t betrayed a single emotion.

“No reason,” Mike said, sliding down in his seat, deeply uncomfortable.

He stayed silent as they pulled into the parking lot for the nearest drugstore, quickly opening the car door and lurching inside.

It felt oddly like Ted was breathing down his throat as Mike quickly grabbed the pads Max used and took them to the cashier.

“Someone’s whipped,” the cashier said.

Mike looked the guy up and down. He couldn’t have been much older than 20 and had never seen a comb in his life from the looks of it. Mike rolled his eyes and disregarded him, despite the odd twist in his stomach at the thought of Max being his girlfriend.

_ I wish, _ part of him thought. It would be so much simpler to just have a girlfriend again and get pads for her and not worry about being in love with the boyfriend of a girl you loved so, so much.

“So, I guess I shouldn’t get my hopes up about meeting that Eleven, huh?”

That rankled. Not only because Max  _ wasn’t _ his girlfriend, but because of the assumption that El was just  _ gone _ now. “We’re still friends,” he snapped.

“Well,” Ted said, standing too close for comfort as he held the door out for Mike. “You know, love can be a lot of work. Sometimes you have to give people a second chance, hm?”

Mike wrinkled his nose. That was rich, coming from Ted, who’d never lifted a finger to keep Karen happy. He’d just settled back into his chair and watched TV, confident that Karen would stay because of the kids, Mike figured.

He was halfway through pulling his seatbelt over his chest when he realized, however, that that wasn’t the weirdest part of it all.

He froze.

_ He’d never told his dad what El was short for. _

“Aw, hell,” Ted (if that really counted as Ted at the moment) said. “I gave it away, didn’t I?”

Mike scrambled to open the door, but it locked before he could touch it. His mouth ran dry.

“You’re a real hassle sometimes, Michael, you know that?” not-so-much-Ted said.

Mike slowly turned to look at him. The dangerous look in his eyes didn’t fit his bland face at all, but it sent a clear message.

Mike was  _ screwed. _

**

Max blinked at Mike when he handed her the bag of pads. “You… don’t look so hot.”

He looked sweaty and there were dark circles under his eyes. “Yeah, I don’t think biking was the best idea,” he said, sounding queasy.

“Yeah,” she said slowly. “What… what did you want to talk about, earlier?”

“Oh, yeah,” Mike said, an oddly glassy look in his eyes. “Do you think you could sleep somewhere else tonight? I know you probably don’t want to go home, but my dad apparently brought home a death virus and I’d hate for you to get it.”

“You sure?” Max asked. “I make a mean chicken soup.”

Mike seemed to be all but swaying on his feet. “Nah. I’d hate it if something happened to you.”

“Uh,” she managed. That was certainly odd wording. “Yeah, okay. Um. I mean, Dustin’s mom is a little weird but I can sleep there.”

“Cool,” Mike said. “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Max said. “I’ll just… change and go, okay?”

“Yeah,” Mike murmured. “If you don’t mind, I’ll go lay down.”

“Yeah,” she said. “You look like you need it.” She frowned. “Do you want me to turn up the thermostat before I leave? It’s a little cold if you’re…”

“No!” Mike said sharply, before catching himself. “Sorry. No. It’s fine. My dad wants it cold, for some reason.”

She stared at him. He was acting off.  _ Very _ off.

“It’s just he’s in a terrible mood,” Mike said. “He already chewed me out in the car earlier and I don’t want to argue with him again, so…”

“I thought you biked,” she said.

“Yeah,” Mike said. “This morning. We got groceries.”

She wanted to argue again, but he cut her off quickly, a hand on the wall beside her. Despite his height, Mike never towered, but he was now. 

“Anyway. You should leave,” he said, voice cold. “Before you catch something.”

“Right,” she said. “Sorry. I’ll just… be a second.”

“Mhmm,” Mike said, watching her intently as she made her way to the bathroom.

When she was done washing off again, he’d gone to his room, the door shut. She tried jiggling it.

Locked.

Her heart was beating twice as fast.

“Leaving already?” Ted asked her as she made her way down the stairs.

“Yep,” she said. “Mike wasn’t feeling well, so I’m giving him some space.”

“Probably for the best,” Ted murmured, watching her just as intently as she slipped out the door. She tried not to show how her hands shook as she shut the door behind herself and grabbed her skateboard and headed straight for Lucas’s house.

He was only a few blocks down, and she could only hope he was home at the moment. He worked all kinds of odd repair jobs with random hours, but maybe on a Friday night, he’d be…

Erica opened the door. “What?” she asked, hand on her hip.

“Is Lucas here?” Max blurted. “Please, it’s really important.”

Erica gave her a long, weary look, but she seemed to realize that Max was genuinely rattled. “Yeah, he’s here. Bedroom.”

Max nodded and pushed past her, hurrying down the hall to Lucas’s room.

“Max?” he asked. “I thought you were at…?”

“It’s Mike,” she said in a rush. “Something’s happened.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> one good way to continue a slowburn is to just mindflay one member of the mutual pining triangle


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is short bc i needed pov changes but oh well

“Okay, back up,” Lucas said slowly.

“You don’t believe me,” Max accused.

“No, no, I didn’t say that,” Lucas said. And he hadn’t - but Max had been jumpy for the year after Billy had died. They all had, but they didn’t all have an empty room staring back at them every time they were home.

“I mean, yes, I’m scared of repeating what happened with Billy, sure,” Max continued, pacing back and forth. “And I didn’t even  _ like _ Billy, if anything like that happened to Mike…” 

Her voice broke, and Lucas wondered if they had felt the exact same jolt of fear.  _ If anything happened to Mike… _

Whether she was being paranoid or not didn’t matter. The stakes were too high. “Okay. I’ll get Dustin. And you… try to calm down. Okay? I believe you, but if the Mindflayer really did get Mike, we have to think clearly.”

She took a deep breath, then nodded.

Lucas wrangled his radio out of his bag and switched it on. “Dustin? Dustin, this is Lucas, do you copy?”

A moment later, the crackling voice came on. “What?”

Max’s head snapped around. “Mike knows the channels we use,” she whispered.

Lucas hesitated. “Uh, could you come over?” he asked. “It’s about… Erica.”

“Ah, hell, I knew you’d find out,” Dustin sighed.

Lucas wrinkled his nose. “Find out--”

Max smacked him on the shoulder. 

“Yeah, I found out,” Lucas said quickly. “Of course I found out. Now get your ass over here.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Over and out.”

Lucas put down the radio. “What about my sister?!” he blurted.

“I don’t know, maybe he’s dating her?” Max said. 

“The hell he is, she’s  _ fourteen years old!” _ Lucas snapped.

“Lucas, it doesn’t matter!” she shouted. “What if… God, what if Mike’s…”

Lucas pushed the thoughts aside, nodding. Part of him doubted that the Mindflayer would return after three years like  _ this. _ But part of him, the part which trusted Max’s instincts, had started chewing through the thought of Mike…

He took a deep breath.

_ Don’t panic. _

They’d saved Will and they could do the same for Mike. And Will had recovered, Mike would to.

But he was probably really scared. Not that Will hadn’t also been scared. It was just that Mike had feelings a lot more intensely, and Lucas knew him better, and they weren’t fourteen and naive anymore, and they’d seen people  _ die _ like this, and it all felt so much more real to imagine Mike scared, fighting something in his own brain.

“Could you not pace?” he asked Max. She froze in her tracks, giving him a furious stare. “I’m sorry, it’s just… you’re freaking me out.”

“Well, I’m freaking out!” she protested.

“I  _ know,” _ Lucas said, then, softer, “I know.”

She let out a slow breath and sat down in the chair across from him, both staring at each other.

Lucas tried to breathe. He tried to walk himself through a plan. They couldn’t spend too long being sure. And they’d clearly underestimated how strong Billy could get, so they’d have to…

“Okay, so your sister kissed a guy and I didn’t tell you but…” Dustin bluted as he burst in the door. “Um. You guys look way too freaked out for this to be about Erica frenching Carl Jones at the--”

“Wait, what?” Lucas managed. Carl Jones was on the math team. He had braces. Lucas would have had many (surprisingly gleeful) followup questions, but they’d have to wait. “Actually, no, nevermind.”

“You didn’t know,” Dustin breathed. “Oh, shit, you didn’t find out from me, I…”

“It’s Mike,” Max said.

Dustin glanced back and forth between them, as though measuring up whether or not he could get away with a joke. He ducked inside, shutting the door behind him. “Did you guys do something stupid?” he asked.

“Max thinks it’s the Mindflayer,” Lucas said.

“I asked him if he wanted me to turn up the heat and he yelled at me,” Max said.

“Okay, yeah, that’s weird,” Dustin admitted.

“Really weird,” Lucas said. This might have been a bad idea. With Dustin here to be the voice of reason, Lucas wasn’t so inclined to try to tell them not to jump to conclusions. “You know how easily he gets cold!”

“Yeah, but he also get cranky pretty easily, so…” Dustin tried.

“Not like this,” Max said. “This was different. He… He said he wanted to talk to me about something, and I cut him off because I needed pads, right? So he ran out to get some and when he came back, I asked him what he wanted to talk about, and he said he wanted to talk to me about not staying at his house tonight because he was sick.”

“You know it’s much more likely that he’s just being stressed about your weird threeway thing, right?” Dustin asked. “And maybe he wanted to talk to you about that but then he chickened out but it’s weird to have you staying in his house when he  _ obviously _ has a thing for your boyfriend?”

“He said he’d  _ hate it if something were to happen to me,” _ Max said. “Specifically with those words. And he said it… in a weird way.”

“What weird way?” Dustin asked, blinking at her.

“Like he was… I don’t know…” she muttered.

Lucas’s stomach flipped. “Like maybe the Mindflayer was saying it to him?”

“Yes!” Max said, relieved. “Like it was a threat, but not to me.”

“Threatening him with his own mouth,” Lucas whispered. That had to be  _ terrifying. _ And Mike was scared of his loved ones getting hurt more than anything, Lucas knew. 

“Okay, well, that’s a haunting thought,” Dustin said. “But I mean… we can’t just up lock him in a sauna from the get go. I mean, in general, that’s a bad idea, but…”

“Shut up, you weren’t there,” Lucas said. “It was the best plan we had.”

“Yeah, okay, not the point,” Dustin said, holding up his hands. “But…”

“He said his dad  _ likes it cold,” _ Max pressed. “Sound familiar?”

“And his dad has been watching the TV with only static turned on for, like, weeks,” Lucas said.

“Okay, uh, that’s… yeah,  _ that’s _ weird,” Dustin said. “In fact, that’s kind of… You didn’t feel the need to worry about that before?”

“I’ve had other things to worry about, man!” Lucas snapped.

“Okay, okay,” Dustin said. “Yes, your weird love triangle that’s… like, not, I get it. But even if the Mindflayer is back, what are we gonna do? Especially if he’s got Mike, and we don’t have El  _ or _ Will.”

“Shit,” Max hissed. “We need to call El.” She dove for the phone.

Lucas’ parents were going to kill him over the phone bill, but whatever. At it was in state and it wasn’t like Erica didn’t talk to people on the phone all the time. 

Max dialed the number quickly, jiggling her leg while waiting for someone to pick up. Lucas grasped his knee tightly, swallowing.

_ Think of it as if it was some stranger getting flayed, _ Lucas tried to tell himself. Panic was going to get them killed right now. Get  _ Mike  _ killed.

“El?” Max said. “Hey. It’s Max. I’m calling about Mike.”

Lucas’s palms were sweaty. The concept of Mike Wheeler not being in his life had never occurred to him, and it was not a pleasant thought. Mike and hopeless, full-throttle way he did everything. Mike and the way he was always there for his friends and the way he said stupid shit all the time but he said it with so much heart it never really stung, not even when they argued.

Max was explaining it all again and Lucas couldn’t stand the thought of sitting around doing nothing while Mike was in his own house with that  _ thing _ eating at his brain, cold and alone. He held out his hand for the phone. “Can I talk to her?” he asked.

Max seemed to realize how badly he was freaking out. He needed to  _ do _ something, and hanging on the phone with El was the only thing they could do right now.

“Yeah,” Max said. “El, I’m handing you over to Lucas.”

She pressed the phone into his hand.

“Hey,” Lucas managed.

“Hi,” El replied. “Do you really think he’s…”

“I don’t know,” Lucas said. “But if he is we have to save him.”

“Yes,” El said. “Are you… okay?”

“No,” Lucas said. “Do you think you could maybe check on him in your void thing?”

“I…” El said, then stopped. “Last time, with Billy, he saw me. And Mike… would want me to be safe.”

“He’d risk his life for you!” Lucas snapped.

“Lucas!” El said sharply, before dropping her voice. “I know. But… Lando?”

Lucas rolled his eyes. Somewhere along the line they’d taught El that Lando was slang for traps, and even showing her Star Wars hadn’t done much to divest her of the habit. “Then what do  _ you _ suggest?”

El was quiet for a while. Lucas could hear faint whispering in the background, then after a moment, “Will is going to try.”

Lucas stopped short. “Wait, what?”

“He’s better at hiding,” El said, like that explained it.

“Since when can Will do that shit?” Lucas blurted.

“We’ve been practicing. While I was trying to get my powers back,” El said. “We need quiet. I’m hanging up.”

“Hang on, what…” Lucas started, but she’d hung up.

Dustin and Max stared at him nervously.

“Uh,” Lucas said. “I guess they’re gonna try to take a look in the void.”

“You guess?” Max asked.

“Yeah, apparently Will can… do that?” Lucas managed.

“What?!” Max and Dustin said at once.

Lucas shrugged helplessly.

Max blinked a few times before the situation set in fully. “So what, now we just wait?”

“I guess so,” Lucas said, getting up to pace.

Max shook her head. “I need some air,” she said, pushing the door and slipping outside.

Dustin plucked at his sleeve. “So, uh,” he said slowly. “How you holding up there, buddy?”

“Uh,  _ not good, _ Dustin,” Lucas said. “My best friend might be possessed.”

Dustin bit his lip, then slowly said, “More than that, though, right?”

Lucas stopped pacing. He’d been realizing this for weeks now, but suddenly, in the quiet of his room, bad news perched over them like a vulture, waiting to swoop down onto them and take away something Lucas had treasured for nearly as long as he could remember…

He nodded, helpless.

He hated being helpless.

His whole life was an uphill battle, and he’d developed a burning sense of pride over the fact that he never stopped fighting that battle. It was part of the reason he’d become friends with Mike, because when Lucas had drawn the ire of every dipshit kid like Troy in the school for being black (and not just black, but  _ dark, _ the darkest person he knew, and wiry and interested in books to boot) then Mike had stepped in and said something.

And he’d tripped over his own feet the second the bully had raised his fist to threaten him, and Lucas had gotten shoved into a locker anyway and then had walked Mike home, noting with some relief that Mike lived just a few streets away, but Mike mumbled, “It was really cool how you stood up to them. You just stared them down. It was real cool. Like… uh… Clint Eastwood,” he’d said.

And then he’d also said, “Sorry, are there, like, black cowboys?” and Lucas had rolled his eyes and left him on the porch, confused about what he’d done wrong, but by the next day they were best friends.

Because that was the thing about Mike. He was temperamental, always chasing whatever thought or feeling had cropped up in his brain that second, tripping all over himself. But he saw people the way they wanted to be seen. Always saw his friends in some kind of earnest, staunchly loyal way.

And no matter how many times Mike put his foot in his mouth, he was always going to see Lucas as  _ Lucas _ before he saw anything else people liked to see about him, and he wasn’t subtle about the fact that he thought what he saw was super cool.

And if Lucas lost that… it wasn’t like he’d be any less himself without Mike around to firmly and happily see it, but part of the fun of being himself would be gone, and that was terrifying.

And there wasn’t anything Lucas could do about it.

“He’s gonna be okay,” Dustin said. “You know Mike.”

“Yeah, uh, Mike who gets scared of fire extinguishers?” Lucas snapped.

“Mike got trapped in Hawkins lab with those demodogs and then went back to set them on fire?” Dustin countered. “And lived to tell the tale?”

That was a good point, Lucas had to admit. But even if he didn’t  _ die... _ “Yeah, but he’s probably  _ scared,”  _ he managed, horrified to find tears dripping down his face. Because there wasn’t anything he could do about that either.

“Alright, c’mere,” Dustin said, wrapping his arms around Lucas. “It’s okay. He probably is scared, but he’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, but there’s nothing I can do about it!” Lucas said, shoving Dustin off of him. “I can’t stop him from being scared or hurt or…” He stopped short, scared to even say it.

“Hey, we gotta wait this out, but you’re not doing nothing!” Dustin protested. “As soon as we know what we’re dealing with, we gonna make a plan and go after him, and you’re gonna swoop in like a superhero and save his ass and then he won’t be scared, right? He’s gonna be so amazed at you.”

Lucas cracked a small smile at that. “Shut up,” he said. “That’s not what this is about.”

“Uh, yeah, but it’s a nice bonus, right?” Dustin teased. “You totally want Mike to swoon over you.”

“Stop it,” Lucas said. “No joking around about this!”

“Sure, sure,” Dustin said, but the teasing had made a small crack in the overwhelming sense of doom that had settled over them.

The phone rang and Lucas started, scrambling to pick it up. “Well?”

“He’s back,” Will’s voice said, sounding slightly shaken but severe.

“Mike?” Lucas asked urgently.

“Yeah. Max was right,” Will said. 

“Fuck,” Lucas said, swallowing. But Dustin was right. Now it was time for a plan. “We need heat. We can’t take him to the cabin again, the Mindflayer knows it too well, but…”

“And we need space heaters,” Dustin said. “A lot of them.”

Lucas nodded. “Take my wallet, buy as many as you can.”

“Yeah,” Dustin said, hurriedly searching through Lucas’s coat pockets for the wallet and dashing out the door.

“And we need to make sure he doesn’t escape,” Will said. “El and I are driving down right now, we’ll be there in an hour, if you can figure out how to actually keep him trapped this time…”

“I’ll think of something. We didn’t know how strong Billy would get, but now I’ve seen it, I’ve got some ideas” Lucas said. “Hurry.”

“We will,” Will said, hanging up with a click.

Dustin darted back in the room.

“Dustin!” Lucas snapped at him. “Go!”

“Yeah, uh…” Dustin said, swallowing. “We have another problem.”

“What?” Lucas asked, heart beating out of his chest.

Dustin winced. “I can’t find Max.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the great thing about madwheelclair is that they are all the smart one but also the dumb one depending on who has the most blindingly intense feelings going on at the time


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what's pacing i've never heard of it

Max tiptoed through the foyer to the Wheeler household. The thermostat had been adjusted even further down. Did that mean they’d gotten Karen out of the way or did it mean he’d gotten to her too? Max shuddered.

Still, now she was positive something was going on.

Which meant it was time to act.

She’d read up on this after Billy. Just in case.

The thought that had kept her up at night had been her mom or Neil. The thought that the Mindflayer had almost certainly  _ been in her house. _ She hadn’t exactly predicted  _ this, _ though.

But she’d read up on it.

Rubbing alcohol and bleach made chloroform, and she knew where the Wheelers kept both. She crept up the stairs quietly, checking the doors for motion as she pulled out the bottle of rubbing alcohol in the cabinet and carefully opened it.

“I thought I told you to leave,” Mike’s voice said, not hitting any of the emotional notes his voice usually did.

Max whirled around, hiding the bottle behind her back. “I thought I could keep you company,” she lied.

Mike’s dark eyes searched hers.

“C’mon, you don’t really want to be cooped up around here alone, right?” Max said, pressing the bottle back onto the shelf.

“What are you looking for?” Mike asked. She tried not to shudder at his chilly tone.

“Cold medicine,” she said.

“I already took some,” Mike said.

“Oh,” she said. “Okay.”

He stared her down. 

“Do you wanna, like, watch a movie or something?” she asked. Anything to lull him into a false sense of security so she could get away to make her concoction.

“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

“Yeah, I know, I’ll get sick, blah blah,” she said. “I’ll risk it. I have a good immune system.”

Mike took a slow breath. “Fine,” he said.

She wondered if it was him or the Mindflayer trying so hard to get her to leave.

_ Sorry if it’s you in there, _ she thought,  _ but I can’t just leave you. _

She made her way to the basement slowly, watching him trail after her. “Where are your mom and Holly?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Visiting Nana.”

So they’d gotten them out of the house.

“So they’re spared the death virus, huh?” she joked.

“Mhmm,” Mike said tersely.

“Why don’t you pick the movie today,” she said. “Since you’re dying apparently.”

His eyes pierced right through her. “Sure,” he said. 

She nodded, bending down to plug in the VCR. 

His hand settled on the back of her neck, cold as ice. That was almost definitely Mike, trying to warn her, which was so fucking typical. If he’d just  _ trusted _ her, she could have gotten him knocked out.

But because he was trying to protect her, she blurted, “Jesus!” and started away, and their cover was blown.

Mike sighed. “You already knew, didn’t you?”

Max swallowed. There was no lie that would get her out of this.

Mike’s hands, uncharacteristically strong, grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the wall, and everything went black.

**

When she woke up, her hands were tied behind her with a mixture of cloth and duct tape.

Mike was sitting on the couch, head in his hands.

She tested the ties and decided against trying to get out of them. Leave it to Mike to do a good job  _ tying her up. _

“Mike,” she said softly.

He didn’t look up.

“Mike,” she tried again. “I know you’re fighting it. You can do this.”

He shook his head quietly.

“Come on,” she pressed. “When have you ever given up on a fight easy, huh?”

“SHUT UP!” he snapped at her, leaping to his feet. There were dark circles under his eyes, tremors running through his body.

“I’m talking to Mike,” she said coldly.

“Well  _ stop,” _ the Mindflayer snarled, making a very Mike-esque noise of frustration as he paced back and forth, hands curling into his hair.

Max took a deep breath. She was pretty sure Mike was the only reason she wasn’t already flayed too. He was clearly fighting it, but given how pale and haggard he looked, that was probably taking up all his energy. Which meant it was unlikely she could count on him to cut her loose or get materials for her original plan.

_ Fuck, fuck fuck, _ she thought.

There was a thud upstairs and the Mike’s head snapped up. His face broke out into a twisted grin. “She came.”

He looked down at Max, a gleam in his eyes, grabbing her and dragging her to her feet. She struggled against him, but he was strong as he wrenched her up the stairs.

El was in the hall with Will, Dustin and Lucas. Ted was out cold on the floor.

When El caught sight of them, she raised her hand without question.

_ That’s my girl, _ Max thought.

But Mike’s arm pulled her up close, forcing her to her tiptoes to keep from choking, and El falter.

Max’s heart squeezed. Of course she faltered. How were you supposed to fight something wearing the face of your first love when it was holding your best friend hostage. “El,” she said, as calmingly as she could, and nodded.

_ Do it, _ she tried to say with her eyes. _ It’s going to be okay. _

The arm around her throat tightened painfully, almost jerking her off her feet entirely.

“I’ll snap her neck,” Mike’s voice threatened, low and all wrong. “Give up, or she’s dead. Understand?”

El’s hand drooped just a little, tears dripping down her face.

“Mike,” Max choked out. His grip tightened again, her vision going dark around the edges as she struggled to breathe.  _ “Mike.” _

_ I know you’re fighting it, _ she tried to push into that one gasped word.  _ I know you don’t want to hurt me or El or… _

“Mike!” Lucas cried out. “Come on, man, you can fight this!”

The chokehold dropped, just enough for her to pull in a breath and elbow Mike in the side. It didn’t seem to hurt him much, but it did startle him enough that she could twist halfway out of his grip.

El screamed, sounding furious and devastated all at once, and Mike flew back against the wall with a sickening crunch and dropped down, limp as a ragdoll.

El dropped her hand, sobbing, and Will and Dustin surged forward to comfort her and help her stumble towards Max and Mike. 

Lucas hurried to Max, pulling out his pocket knife. 

“Check on Mike,” she breathed. “I’m okay. Check on…”

He nodded, scrambling to turn Mike over and haul him into his arms. “He’s out cold,” he said. “But he’s still breathing.”

“Shit,” Max said, as Dustin hurried to untie her.

“What the hell were you thinking!” Lucas shouted at her.

“I thought I could knock him out!” she yelled back.

“With  _ what?” _ he yelled.

“Homemade chloroform!”

Dustin freed her arms and she ran to check on Mike. The back of his head was bleeding, but his breathing was steady and he looked almost peaceful in Lucas’s arms.

“Shit,” she murmured.

“We have to tie him up,” Will said.

“I need his bike locks,” Lucas said. “And duct tape. Lots of it.”

El nodded and Dustin gave him a breathless thumbs-up.

“We need to take him somewhere else,” Max said. “If he knows we’re here, so does the Mindflayer. We need somewhere unfamiliar.”

Dustin sighed. “I have an idea,” he said. “But he’s not gonna like it.”

**

“Hey, remember when you told a bunch of evil Russians my full name and I had to spend several months worried about whether my mom should be in witness protection or not?” Dustin asked.

Steve stared at him. “Don’t like how you’re saying that, so I’m just going to point out that I was  _ super _ drugged.”

“C’mon, man, we had to go somewhere,” Dustin insisted.

Steve leaned past him to take in the image that greeted him there: Max holding Mike’s upper body, bound and blindfolded, Lucas grabbing his legs and El and Will shielding him from the view of the neighbors. “What the fuck?” Steve asked, smiling at Dustin like a man dangling from a very thin thread.

Dustin merely grinned at him.

Steve groaned, opening the door for them. “Robin, the children are at it again!” he yelled.

“Come on, man, we’re all seventeen or eighteen,” Dustin griped. “We drive.”

_ “Children,”  _ Steve growled.

They stumbled inside with Mike, Max taking extra care not to bump his head any more than they already had.

Robin blinked at them. “Is that… Mike?” she asked.

“Sort of,” Max breathed.

“How many space heaters do you have?” Dustin asked.

“Uh… one for each room?” Robin asked. “Our central heating isn’t the best, so…”

“Great, gather them all,” Dustin said. “Turn the central heating up, too, and I’ll be right back with some more.”

“Some more heaters?” Robin called, but he was already out the door. Robin looked at El instead. “What the hell is going on?”

“Mike got flayed,” El said softly.

Max helped Lucas slide Mike into a chair Steve shoved at them, where Will joined him in securing him with more tape. She stroked Mike’s hair out of his face, heart clenching a little at the smallest noise of distress he made, stirring slightly. “I need rubbing alcohol and bleach,” she told Robin.

“Uh, for what?” Robin asked.

“Chloroform,” Max and Lucas said at once.

Robin sighed and waved them off as she went to get it.  _ Don’t explain, _ her motion said.

Max squeezed El’s elbow. “You okay?” she asked.

El nodded, eyes watery. 

“I know it had to be rough to have to fight Mike,” Max said. “Or… well, the thing wearing his face.”

El took a shaky breath. “Are you okay?”

Max nodded. “Mike… I think Mike did everything he could to protect me.”

Mike groaned.

“Shit,” Lucas muttered.

“Lucas?” Mike mumbled.

“Yeah,” Lucas murmured. “Hey.”

Mike stirred slowly, taking in the fact that he couldn’t move his arms or legs. “Let me go!” he snapped.

“Mike,” Lucas said.

Robin shoved the bleach and alcohol into Max’s hands, and Max frantically set to mixing them.

“I said let! Me! GO!” Mike growled, the chair creaking as he tried to free himself.

“I don’t know if that tape is gonna hold,” Robin whispered.

“Hey,” Will said. “Mike. I know you can hear me. I heard you when it was me, remember?”

Mike snarled as he tried to free himself.

“Talk to him,” Will whispered. “He can hear you.”

Lucas stumbled over his words for a moment before choking out, “Come on, man, you gotta keep fighting it, okay? You’re the most stubborn guy I know. You’re practically tied with Max, and she’s a mule and a half.”

Normally, Max would respond in kind, but now she just wanted to finish shaking up this bottle of knockout gas.

“We’re gonna get that thing outta you, okay?” Lucas promised. “Just stick with us a little longer, we’ve got you.”

“Let me  _ go,” _ Mike sobbed. “Lucas!”

“I know,” Lucas said, voice cracking. “I know, buddy, I know you’re scared. But I’m here. I’ve got you. I…” 

He glanced up at Max as she moved closer with the bottle. She nodded.

“I love you, okay?” Lucas said.

Max rubbed Mike’s back comfortingly, and he started, trying to identify where the hand came from. “I’m really sorry about this,” she croaked. “But it’s for your own good.”

She tried to tug his head back as gently as possible as she pressed the bottle under his nose. He struggled against her grip, but his head quickly lolled back as he lost consciousness. She snatched the bottle away, not wanting to poison him any more than necessary.

Lucas squeezed Mike’s knee. “Just a little longer, man, just a little longer…”

Dustin returned soon after, unloading a bag of three larger space heaters. “Sorry, Mike, this is gonna suck for you,” he said, pressing them into a tight circle around him.

“Did it hurt a lot?” El asked Will.

“Uh,” Will said. “Yeah.”

She hissed, but she got to work plugging in the space heaters.

Max knelt in front of Mike and gently pried Lucas away. “Come on, it’s gonna get ugly.”

“Wait, wait,” Steve said. “So this thing escapes from him, it’s gonna go right home reporting to daddy, right?”

“No,” El said, face stony. “It won’t.”

Steve stared at her. “Well okay then.”

“Ready?” Dustin asked, bumping Lucas’s shoulder with a supportive fist.

Lucas clenched his jaw. “Yeah.”

They started on switching on the space heaters one by one.

By the fourth, Mike started stirring again, but Max didn’t think the chloroform would help much.

His head swiveled, trying to follow their motions blindfolded. “What…?” he managed, panic rising. Max really hoped that was only the Mindflayer’s panic, but she also couldn’t really convince herself of it. “What are you doing?”

She pushed one the space heaters closer.

“Stop!” Mike cried, all too close to pleading. “Stop, it burns!”

Lucas reached for him, but Max grabbed his hand. “We have to wait it out,” she whispered.

“Stop it, please!” Mike screamed. “It hurts, please!”

Lucas squeezed her hand painfully, and she squeezed back just the same.

“If you get rid of me you kill him!” Mike gritted out. “He’s weak, hurt! He won’t survive he shock!”

“He’s lying,” Will said. “He’ll say anything to keep us from getting rid of him.”

Max nodded, but it didn’t do much to soothe the worry deep in her chest.

“Lucas,” Mike begged.

“Shit,” Lucas said, tears dripping down his face.

“Lucas, please,” Mike sobbed.

“It’s not him,” Max whispered.

“I’m sorry,” Lucas managed. “I know it hurts, but we have to do this. You know that.”

“El!” Mike cried, but the abrupt shift in tactics made it all to clear it was the Mindflayer talking, not Mike. “El, you have to let me go!” He screamed, tugging at his bonds hard enough the tape stretched and he bike locks wrapped around his arms let out a horrible screeching sound.

El clenched her jaw and raised her hand, pressing him back into the chair.

Mike let out a gut-wrenching scream.

“This isn’t working,” Lucas blurted. “It’s not hot enough.”

“It didn’t leave me until Nancy burned me with a poker,” Will said suddenly.

“What?!” Lucas and Max blurted.

“We don’t even have a poker!” Steve cried.

“We have an iron,” Robin offered.

“We can’t burn him with an iron!” Lucas shouted.

“We have to!” Max said, trying to ignore the awful screaming in the background.

Robin ran to get it, returning a moment later and hurriedly plugging it in. She cranked it up to the highest setting. “Okay, who’s gonna…?” she asked, looking queasy.

“I’ll do it,” Will said.

She blinked at him. “Are you…?” she asked, “Maybe I should… I mean we’re older.”

“I’ll do it,” Will insisted. “I’ve been in his shoes before, I know what it feels like. I can do it.”

“Oh, fuck,” Robin said, handing him the iron.

“I’m sorry,” Will said, stepping closer. “This is going to hurt.”

“Will,” Mike pleaded. “I know how you used to feel about me. Don’t do this.”

Will winced at that. “I’m sorry,” he said again, sounding desperate, but he pressed the iron to Mike’s hand.

The shriek it drew from him was awful. Max couldn’t look, turned her face into Lucas’s shoulder as she listened to it go from a screech of pain to something inhuman, peeking up only when she heard the rush of something billowing out of Mike, black and swirling into a terrifying cloud.

It tried to swoop out the nearest window, but El caught it with her free hand, letting go of her hold on Mike to slam it into the ground hard enough to break the floorboards. 

Max could commiserate with the sheer rage in her visceral scream as she pushed harder, grinding the cloud up into dust that sifted out over the floor around their feet.

Will dropped the iron. “He’s gone,” he said, breathing out.

The terminal strip they’d been using for the heaters burst into flames.

“Shit!” Steve said, grabbing a pillow from their couch to use it to stamp out the flames while Robin frantically unplugged the strip. “We’re so not getting our deposit back…”

Dustin grabbed El as she collapsed and Lucas leapt over the heaters to get to Mike.

Max stumbled after him, blearily trying to free Mike’s legs.

Mike wasn’t responding, his head falling limp between his shoulders.

Will joined her in undoing the tape around Mike’s arms, pulling them out as efficiently as he could.

“Mike?” Lucas tried, getting Mike’s face between his hands and shaking. “Mike, come on, man, you gotta look at me, Mike, please.”

Max moved to help Will with the last of the restraints holding Mike’s arms, and Lucas quickly pulled him out of the chair and into his arms, pulling the blindfold off and stroking his sweat drenched hair out of his face. “Mike? Come on, open your eyes, Mike. Mike!”

Mike’s eyes cracked open and he swallowed with some difficulty. “Lucas?” he croaked, hoarse as hell but still  _ talking. _

Max let out a sigh of relief as Lucas chuckled, pulling Mike into the crook of his shoulder to give him a hug.

“Jesus, you gave us all a real scare,” Max said.

Mike’s head snapped around to look at her, and he went pale. 

He slapped Lucas’s hands away and scrambled to his feet, unsteady, and staggered to the nearest trash can to puke.

Lucas reached for him, but Mike slapped him away again. “No don’t touch me!” he snapped.

“Mike…” Lucas said, the pain in his voice sending a spike through Max’s heart.

She reached for him too, but he stumbled back, looking almost scared, and then skittered away, running for the bathroom.

“Mike?” she called after him, trying not to cry.

El pushed herself to her feet, using Dustin for support. She wiped away blood from her nose. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’ll talk to him.”

“I didn’t…” Lucas said, confused and hurt.

El squeezed his shoulder. “Wait,” she said. “Not your fault.”

Lucas’s shoulders sagged. “Okay,” he said.

She nodded sympathetically, then trailed after Mike, leaving Max and Lucas to sit on the floor, reeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that awkward moment when you get possessed and try to kill your crush's gf amirite
> 
> also yes steve and robin are roommates and steve tries WAY too hard to wingman for her every day of his life  
> (steve: on GOD i will get you a girlfriend!  
> robin: that's nice but could you do the dishes?  
> steve: ... can we go back to the girlfriend thing?)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's hard to do a slow burn when you have absolutely no patience contained in your entire body

“I could have killed her,” Mike said, before El could forgive him too quickly. “I was going to.”

“It wasn’t you,” El said softly.

“You don’t understand, El!” Mike cried. He was so tired. He’d already been tired and then this… Every fiber of his body wanted to give up. There was no way out, no solutions, no upsides, no nothing. “I don’t know what you and Max have been talking about, teasing me for some crush, but it’s  _ not. _ I’m in love with him. And he’s with Max and I love Max, of course I do, but…” He didn’t know what to call it. It wasn’t jealousy, he didn’t think, just a twisting sense of hopelessness. His voice nearly left him as he whispered, “And I could have killed her.”

“Mike,” El said, her hand on his forearm. She had small hands, surprisingly tender for all the things she was capable of. “You’re not the monster. Remember?”

“That was different,” Mike mumbled. “Like, in pretty much every way.”

“No,” she said. “You fought. You saved her.”

“No I didn’t,” Mike said. “You did.” He was still aching from how hard she'd thrown him, pain arching up his spine and head and joining in with a general nausea from everything else.

“Because of you,” El insisted.

“Well I’m still in love with her boyfriend!” Mike said, trying to keep from crying and failing. “And I can’t… I can’t be. But I can’t stop either and I…”

El sighed, putting an arm around him. It was comforting, and sort of weird that it was only happening after they’d broken up. Like he’d been released from his duty as her rock. It was a bittersweet feeling, and he hated it a little. “You need to talk to Max,” El said.

That was what he’d been trying to do, before all this. Part of him recoiled at the idea, on sheer instinct. Like some part of his body had learned that talking to Max about this would end with him choking her, her feet scrabbling against his as she tried to keep them on the ground. It was _terrifying_ to think about. “I  _ can’t,” _ he said. “What do I even tell her?”

“Exactly what you told me,” El said.

“And then what?” Mike said. “She says ‘sorry, you can’t have him’ and then it’s awkward for the rest of our lives and I lose two of my best friends because I...?”

“Mike,” El said patiently. “Trust me. She understands.”

“But,” Mike said, before realizing he couldn’t argue with that, at which point the only thing left to do was cry, sitting on the floor of the bathroom with El wrapped around him.

God, he was just so _tired._

**

Every muscle in Mike’s body was shaking when he finally crept out of the bathroom, El gently supporting him.

Max and Lucas both straightened up, so eager, and the guilt was back full force. He wanted to puke again.

“Um,” he managed. “I’m really sorry.” They gave him blank looks. “For um… everything, I guess.”

Max shook her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“We were just worried about you,” Lucas said, reaching for Mike but pulling back at the last moment.

If everything was simpler, Mike would throw himself into that offer for a gentle touch. He wanted more than anything to cling to Lucas and cry and let Lucas tell him it was all okay.

As it was, he had to stop himself from dancing away. He didn’t want to hurt Lucas’s feelings, but he also couldn’t let this happen before he’d cleared things up with Max. If he could clear things up with Max. It seemed impossible, even if he did trust El.  


“Can I, uh,” he said. “Can I talk to Max alone?”

Lucas and Max exchanged looks, then they both nodded.

“We should make a plan to deal with the Mindflayer anyway,” Dustin said. “C’mon, Lucas, we need your brains.”

Lucas gave Mike a torn look, but he joined Dustin without another word as Mike and Max slipped into Robin’s bedroom.

“I’m guessing this is what you _actually_ wanted to talk about earlier?” Max said.

Mike nodded.

“Alright,” Max said, sitting down on the bed.

Mike spent a few more minutes pacing, then stopped in front of her. “I’m in love with Lucas.”

“I know,” she said.

“No, I’m  _ serious,”  _ Mike pushed. “And I’m so sorry about before, I wasn’t… I really was trying to fight him, the Mindflayer, because I’d never want to hurt you, but I don’t know if maybe I…”

“Mike,” Max said, sighing. “Just to be super clear here... are you suggesting that you couldn’t fight off an otherworldly mind-eating monster because of jealousy?”

“I don’t know!” Mike said. “I don’t know, but I…! I love him and I don’t think it’s temporary!” The hopelessness inside him surged again. “But then again, what the hell do I know? I mean, Lucas has been my best friend for more than a decade now, but I thought El and I would be together forever and I… I don’t know! I don’t know anything, okay? But I do love him and if it weren’t for you I’d want to be with him and I don’t know what to…”

“Mike!” Max shouted, like she’d been trying to get his attention for a while.

His head was throbbing and his mouth was dry, and clearly she could tell because she steered him down on the bed. “I’m sorry, okay?” he mumbled.

“Mike,” she said. “Could you just chill for a couple seconds?”

“No!” Mike shouted. “I could have  _ killed you!” _

“That wasn’t you!” Max yelled back. “So could you just shut up and listen to me for a second?”

He closed his mouth, nodding reluctantly.

“Look, we didn’t tell you already because Lucas thought you needed some time without any, uh, surprises, I guess? But we’ve talked about it,” she said. “And I’m okay with sharing.”

Mike was too tired and aching for this. “Sharing… Lucas?” he asked.

Against all odds, she said, “Yeah.”

“What, like, I get him on weekends?” Mike managed. This was absurd. Was he hallucinating? Maybe he’d hit his head harder than he’d thought when El had thrown him.

“What is this, a custody agreement?” Max said. “No. We’d just… Look. We’re both in love with Lucas. We love each other. We’d just… work it out.”

“Work…?” Mike stammered. “We’d just…? No!”

“Why not?” Max snapped.

“Because that’s not how things work!”

“Why  _ not?” _

“Because it’s  _ not!” _

“Oh, then how does it work?” Max growled. “You marry someone you don’t even like and move into the cul-de-sac? And  _ my _ parents aren’t even married anymore! Why _can't_ we do our own thing?”

_ "E _ _ xactly,” _ Mike said. “You of all people should get it! We’ll get jealous of each other and argue over who gets attention when and then we’ll hate each other and…”

“Oh, please,” Max said. “You think  _ Lucas Sinclair  _ doesn’t have enough love to go around?”

That was hard to argue with. “That’s not the point,” Mike said weakly.

“Then what is the point?!”

“I don’t know!” he cried, swallowing down tears. “It’s just… not how it works.”

“Mike,” Max said, putting her cool hands on either side of his face. “Do you want this?”

“Of  _ course _ I want this,” he choked out. But it wasn’t that easy. It couldn’t be.

“So we’ll make it work,” she said. “All three of us. Okay?”

“I…” Mike said, trying to scrape together a proper reason why he couldn't just take this offer and relax. He realized he couldn't. “Lucas said it’s okay too?”

“Yes,” Max said. "He did."

Mike couldn't muster a response. There wasn't any reason not to simply accept it, but he couldn't. He _couldn't._ There was no way it could be that easy.

“Look. I know you’re probably a little too shaken to make big decisions right now, but it's an option, alright?” she whispered.

He opened his mouth to argue, but all that came out was a ridiculous little whimper as it all caught up with him. “I tried to fight him,” he managed. “I really did.”

“I know,” she said, pulling his head down so his forehead pressed against hers. “I know you did. I saw it.”

“But I kept doing stuff like it was a bad dream. I couldn’t stop.” And it had been terrifying. Watching his own hands hurt Max, trying everything he could to stop and being powerless to do so.

“You did what you could,” she said. “So just breathe. We’re all in one piece.”

He sniffled. “Okay,” he said.

“And let Lucas comfort you, okay?” Max said. “Even if you don’t take the offer, I’m not mad. You need him, and I know he needs it too.”

“Okay,” he said again, wiping away tears.

She thumbed at his cheeks, frowning slightly as she pulled away. “You’re a little warm, though. Are you running a fever?”

“I’m fine,” Mike said, wiping his nose. “Just shaky. I feel like P.E. times a thousand.”

“And knowing how well you do in gym…” Max teased, before she grew serious again. “But if you feel sick, then…”

The doorbell rang and they both started.

“Oh, shit, you think…” Max whispered, helping Mike up so they could race to the living room.

The others were all hiding behind the counters while Dustin army crawled to the door to peek out the peephole. 

“Who is it?” Steve whispered.

“Uh…” Dustin said slowly. “It’s your sister.”

“Who’s sister?” Lucas whispered.

“Both!” Dustin hissed.

“What?” Lucas and Mike asked.

"What are they doing here?" Mike asked.

"Why are they together?" Lucas added.

“I… I don’t think it’s the Mindflayer again,” Will said.

“You don’t think…?” Mike asked.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure I could sense him flaying them, but…” Will murmured. "I don't think so."

Dustin groaned, opening the door just a crack. “Hey guys. I'm... uh. Sorry. Before I let you in, I need to feel how warm you are.”

“What?” Mike could hear Nancy say.

“Just a precaution,” Dustin said, grinning awkwardly.

There was some sighing and shuffling, and then Dustin let them. “Yeah, I think they’re good.”

Nancy and Erica took a long look around the room.  _ “What _ have you been doing now?” Erica asked. "This place is a mess!"

"I know!" Steve snapped.

“Why are you guys together?” Lucas asked.

“We couldn’t find anyone!” Nancy protested. “No one was picking up any phones and our house was fucking empty, so I went to find Lucas, and--”

“Wait, empty?” Max blurted. “Shit, we forgot your dad.”

“I mean, that makes sense,” Mike said, head too fuzzy to take in yet another turn of events.

“What about dad?” Nancy asked. “And  _ Jesus, _ Mike, what happened to you?”

"You look like shit," Erica added helpfully.

“Dad was flayed,” Mike said tiredly. “Then I was, but only for a few hours.”

_ “What?” _

“Aren’t you supposed to be in New York?” he asked.

“I was,” Nancy said. “But Jonathan and I came down to look for El.”

El cocked her head.

"Why?" Robin asked slowly.

Nancy swallowed. “Uh. You might want to sit down.”

El leaned against the counter, silently refusing to let her guard down.

“It’s Hopper,” Nancy said, as gently as possible. “He’s alive.”

**

“Wait, and you’re _sure_ it was him?” Steve pressed.

Mike leaned back against the wall. His head was spinning and the aches and pains from being thrown around all day were mounting to a dull roar. He just wanted to pause everything for just a little bit.

“Yes!” Nancy said. 

“He was… okay?” El questioned.

Mike tried to catch her eyes, ask her how she was doing, but she was busy pacing.

“Well, I think he wanted to burn the embassy down by the time we picked him up,” Nancy said. “Apparently they don’t take kindly to people who show up in Russia, claiming to be U.S. citizens without a passport and insist their contact is a retired journalist who now deals in conspiracy theories. But Murray called us and Jonathan and I spent a few days proving he’s a real person and we got in touch with Dr. Owens, and…” She shrugged. “I mean, we drove down here with him. He seems… like Hopper? Quieter, maybe.”

“Wait, wait, how did the Russians get him, again?” Dustin asked.

“I don’t know, something with the Upside Down,” Nancy said. “It’s complicated.”

“No offense,” Erica interjected. “But shouldn't we hurry this conversation along? I mean it seems like we should be dealing with the giant monster that’s after us first.”

“We need El for that,” Mike said. “And she needs a second. I mean, she thought her dad was dead and now he's not?”

El sucked in a sharp breath, crossing her arms. She finally met his eyes, nodding softly. He nodded back.

Erica looked him up and down. “Shouldn’t you be taking your own advice?” she asked, hand on her hip.

“What?” Mike asked, wrinkling his nose.

“You look like you need a nap,” Erica said, like she was talking to a toddler.

“I’m fine,” Mike said. Granted, he was propping himself up against a wall in order to stay on his feet, but…

“You were  _ flayed!” _ Nancy protested. “I mean, Jesus, Mike!”

“And now I’m not!” Mike griped back. “It’s fine! Besides, if I lay down, I’m not gonna have the energy to get back up when we need to do this thing, so…”

“Oh my God, do you hear yourself?” Max blurted.

Mike was too tired to have them all bearing down on him like this. “I’ll sleep after we’ve dealt with the Mindflayer!”

There was a chorus of concerned and exasperated, “Mike!”s, but Lucas’s rang cleared than the rest. It was soft, hesitant, and Mike’s eyes snapped to meet Lucas’s. Lucas looked tired and worried and Mike struggled to argue.

“I just…” he mumbled, unable to look away from Lucas now that he could see how much he must have scared him.

“At  _ least _ sit down for a bit,” Dustin interrupted. “Lucas, take him to the couch.”

He shoved Lucas at Mike, and for a moment they both faltered, staring at each other. “Uh,” Lucas said, carefully putting his arm around Mike.

Mike realized with a pang that last time Lucas had tried this, Mike had slapped him and told him not to touch him. That explained the hesitancy. He yielded, not having the heart to push Lucas away again after that.

“Are you running a fever?” Lucas asked, once they were out from under everyone’s prying eyes.

“I don’t know, probably,” Mike mumbled. “You guys just burned an interdimensional creature out of my brain.”

“I guess so,” Lucas said, sliding him down onto the couch. 

Sitting back had the strength draining out of Mike’s limbs like water out of a punctured bag, and for a moment he wasn’t sure he could keep his head up at all.

Lucas slowly eased himself beside Mike.

“I’m sorry,” Mike said. “About earlier. Slapping you away. It wasn’t… You know. It wasn’t you.”

“Oh,” Lucas said, glancing at Mike, the weight of things unsaid suffocating both of them.

“I just thought…” Mike blurted, before his nerves caught up with him. “You know, with Max…" He shook his head. "But she cleared things up. So…”

Lucas wrung his hands, clearing his throat like he was trying to be casual. “Cleared… things up… how?”

“Uh,” Mike said. “She… mentioned you guys had talked. About... me. And… that… things were… on the table, you know.”

“Oh,” Lucas said. “Okay. Um.” He paused, and every second of it left Mike more breathless with anxiety. “And?”

Mike opened his mouth, hoping for a moment that his answer would escape without him needing to make the decision himself. Instead, he managed a strangled, “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” Lucas said, again. “Right.”

“It’s not that I don’t want…” Mike tried. “I mean I do! Want… You know. Like, a lot. But… I just… I don’t want to… I mean… I…”

Lucas’s face slowly broke into a smile. “Mike,” he said. “You really are hopeless.”

“No I’m  _ not,” _ Mike protested, mostly on instinct.

“If you want it, then why not?” Lucas asked.

“Because… Well, I mean… Do _you_ want…?” Mike managed.

“Yeah,” Lucas said. “I know it’s weird, but it wouldn’t be the first time we had something weird in our lives, would it?”

“Well, yeah,” Mike mumbled. “But… what if we end up hating each other?”

“Why would we?” Lucas asked, looking amused at the suggestion.

“I don’t know!”

“You didn’t end up hating El.”

“Yeah, but…” Mike said, before realizing he didn’t have a good argument. “I don’t  _ know, _ okay?”

“Okay,” Lucas said, taking Mike’s hand in his. “No rush. But… think about it?”

“I can’t  _ stop _ thinking about it,” Mike admitted. “That’s why I freaked out earlier.”

Lucas chuckled. “Hey. Max is fine, alright? You didn’t hurt her.”

“I wouldn’t,” Mike insisted.

“I know.”

Mike let his shoulders drop, letting a little bit of the tension ebb away. “Okay,” he said. “I’m… I will think about it. Really.”

“Good,” Lucas said. “Because I’d like to. You know.”

He was blushing too, which made Mike feel a bit better about his own fluttering heartbeat. 

“Can I at least check your fever, though?” Lucas asked.

“What?” Mike asked. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Your mom never…?” Lucas started, then sighed. “Just c’mere.”

He tugged Mike down and pressed cool lips to his forehead. Mike’s heart skipped a beat, his hand jumping to Lucas’s thigh almost unbidden to curl into his pants. “Oh,” he breathed, chest aching with the want to just throw himself into Lucas’s arms and sleep or cry or both.

“You’re _really_ burning up,” Lucas said, pressing him away so he could cup Mike’s face in his hands.

“I’m fine,” Mike said, automatically. He felt dizzy, mostly. Very dizzy. Increasingly dizzy.

“Mike,” Lucas said, but he was interrupted by a quick rapping on the door.

El was in the living room in a split second, shooting Mike a quick look. For a moment he wondered if he should address the fact that Lucas’s face was mere inches from his and he was holding Mike’s face in his hands tenderly, but it was obvious she had far bigger concerns.

“It’ll be okay,” he murmured, giving her an encouraging nod.

She squared her jaw, nodding back, and unlocked the door with a jerk of her chin.

It swung open, and there was a palpable silence.

Jonathan shuffled aside, and there he was.

There, more grizzled than Mike remembered him, beard down to his chest and hair hurriedly pulled back into a hair tie, but seemingly alive and real, was Jim Hopper.

“Oh, man, you’re so tall,” Hopper croaked, like El was the only thing he could see in the world. “And your hair…”

“It’s really long,” El managed, helplessly holding her arms out.

He all but ran to wrap his arms around her. “You’re all grown up,” he whispered, stroking her hair as she let out a small sob and clung to him.

Hopper pulled her in closer, looking around at the state of the room, eyes landing on Mike.

“You look like you’ve seen better days, kid,” he joked, El’s hair fluttering with his breath.

“I was flayed for a bit,” Mike said awkwardly. He wasn’t sure how to go about talking to your ex-girlfriend’s un-dead father when you were sitting halfway in the lap of your potential future boyfriend. Part of him wanted to put a little distance between him and Lucas, part of him wanted to lean into Lucas’s arm, now slinking around Mike’s back, and try to melt into it entirely. “But I’m fine now.”

“Right,” Hopper said, looking about as uncomfortable as Mike felt. He looked down at El. “You okay? Uh, can’t imagine a possessed boyfriend is… uh…”

“Friend,” El corrected.

“We broke up a few weeks ago,” Mike offered.

“Oh,” Hopper said, looking even more awkward now. “Well… uh… You know. That’s… Still. You alright?”

El nodded into his chest.

“Um,” Mike said. “We should… probably give you… some space…” 

“Yyyyyeah,” Lucas said, standing up so he could help Mike up.

Mike made it to his feet, alright, but that was about as far as his body went, clearly, because the moment he put weight on those feet, his knees gave out like melted butter and he went down against Lucas’s chest like a ragdoll.

He heard Lucas hiss a small, “Shit!” as he caught Mike, and then everything went very fuzzy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mike: boy who could have predicted i'd collapse after everything i've been through on this day  
> literally everyone:


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mike? get together with people gracefully?? not an option
> 
> i did not proofread this chapter AT ALL

“Hey,” Lucas breathed. He didn’t think he’d ever been as relieved in his life as he was right now, Mike’s brown eyes sluggishly focusing on him. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Mike said blearily. “Did I… pass out?”

“Yeah, you did,” Hopper said, rolling up his sleeves as he perched over Mike.

“Oh,” Mike said, and tried to get up. 

Lucas dragged him down with minimal effort. “Are you crazy? Mike, you’re  _ not  _ getting up.”

“Um,” Mike said. “But…”

“Mike!” Lucas and El chided at once.

“What the hell happened?” Nancy asked, Max tight on her heels.

“He passed out,” Lucas said.

“What a surprise,” Max said, leaping onto the couch so she could slide in between Hopper and El.

“You get hurt anywhere, kid?” Hopper asked.

“I threw him,” El said.

“She had to,” Mike blurted automatically.

El gave him an exhausted look.

“Hey, you dated him first,” Max said.

Mike glared at her. “I’m just  _ saying!” _

“How?” Hopper interjected, sliding his fingers under Mike.

“Back,” El said. “He hit the wall like…” She smacked her back where she’d thrown Mike too.

Lucas helped roll him over as Hopper pushed him gently, hearing Mike’s little whimper into his shoulder when Hopper carefully touched his shoulder blades. 

“Help me lift his shirt,” Hopper murmured to Max, and she moved to comply, folding it up with him bit by bit.

El hissed, and Lucas craned his head to look. Dark blue bruises lined his spine and shoulder.

“Shit,” he whispered.

“‘S okay,” Mike mumbled into his arm.

“Mike,” Lucas gritted out.

“No, this time he’s mostly right,” Max said. “He’s pale. Trust me, bruises look just that bad on my skin too.”

“Yeah, this isn’t causing the fever,” Hopper said. “Though you should get him some ice.”

“I’ve got it,” Nancy said, dashing away.

“Anywhere else?” Hopper asked. “Could just be exhaustion, but…”

“Um,” Mike said. “I think… when my dad… when I was flayed, I remember fighting it, but it’s all kind of…”

Hopper sat back on his heels. “How’d it happen?”

“We were in the car,” Mike croaked. “There was something in the backseat. It wrapped around my throat and then into my mouth and…” His breath hitched, and Lucas combed his fingers through Mike’s hair. He couldn’t stand the thought.

“You would have pushed against the car with your forearms, probably,” Hopper murmured to himself, rolling up Mike’s sleeve and revealing a nasty looking cut up from his elbow, melting into the burn from the iron.

“Oh, fuck,  _ Mike,” _ Max said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought it was just banged up from when El threw me,” Mike complained, a fragile quality slipping into his tone. Lucas shifted so he could hold Mike a little closer. “I hurt all over.”

“This is infected,” Hopper said, rolling Mike’s arm in his hands. “Bad. What’s the burn from?”

“We did that,” Lucas muttered. “To get the Mindflayer out of him.”

“Well, it didn’t help,” Hopper sighed, sitting back onto the couch. “He needs a doctor.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Max said. “We don’t know where Ted is and we don’t know if he’s the only flayed.”

Mike shook his head. “I’m… definitely not positive about what it was thinking while it was in my head, but I don’t think I was alone. It’s trying to be… strategic.”

“It was living in your house for weeks,” Max said. “I’d say it’s succeeding.”

Mike tried to sit up again, but his arms gave out under him and his lashes fluttered.

“Mike, stay,” Lucas chided. “I’ve got you, so don’t be an idiot.”

“Sorry,” Mike mumbled. Lucas frowned. Mike had to be really sick if he wasn’t arguing. “But um…” He furrowed his brow. “I can’t remember what I was going to say.”

Lucas sighed. “Just close your eyes,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.”

“Um,” Mike said softly. “But I wanna help.”

“We’ll wake you if we need you,” Max lied.

Lucas hitched him up a little closer, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing.

Mike took a deep breath, like he was trying to inhale Lucas’s shirt. “I guess.” He nestled his head into Lucas’s collarbone, and went quiet.

“So what do you think are our chances of not alerting the Mindflayer if we take him to the hospital?” Lucas whispered.

“I’d say pretty bad,” Nancy said, returning with ice and slipping it under Mike’s shirt.

He squirmed, but Lucas stroked the hair at the base of his neck and that seemed to be enough to send him back to sleep. No wonder - he was probably exhausted.

“I can probably sense who’s flayed and who’s not,” Will said. “If I get close enough.”

“Probably, or you can?” Lucas snapped at him, worry coiling in his gut.

El shoved at his shoulder with a cross look.

“Sorry,” Lucas said. “But it’s an important distinction. We need to know if we’re going in blind.”

“The Mindflayer also knows Will,” Dustin said. “Like,  _ very _ well. We send him in and someone flayed sees him, it’s like setting off the alarms in every direction.”

“Well, you can also tell by touch,” Max said. “When Mike was trying to warn me, he put his hand on my neck. It was freezing cold.”

“Hate to say it, but I think at this point Mindflayer knows  _ all _ of us,” Robin called.

“Not exactly,” Lucas said, looking up as it clicked. “I have a plan.”

**

“Stay out here with El,” Lucas murmured to Max. “Make sure we weren’t followed. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”

“Be careful,” Max replied.

Lucas nodded, checking on Mike as Hopper held him tight.

El pushed in the door, the alarm squeaking for a moment before it shattered.

“Let’s hope there’s no fire soon,” Lucas murmured, holding the door open as Hopper and Will slipped in the emergency exit.

This wing of the hospital was under construction, as far as Lucas knew, but he knew from his dad that it was mostly in the painting stages. Several rooms would already be set up and it would be easy enough to get there from the main hospital if someone had a reason to.

He found the room they’d agreed upon with Nancy and ushered them in. Fortunately, there was a bed already in the room, though it didn’t have sheets.

Hopper set Mike down, taking care with his head as he arranged his legs on the bed.

Lucas rounded the bed to take Mike’s hand. He was even more feverish than before, despite their best attempts to clean his wounds as much as they could at home.

There were footsteps down the hall, and Hopper reached for his gun. 

Will shook his head. “It’s just Nancy,” he said.

Hopper frowned at him. “What?”

A moment later, Nancy poked her head in the door.

“Holy shit,” Lucas whispered.

“What?” Nancy asked nervously.

“Nothing,” Hopper said. “Did you find her?”

Nancy nodded. “I told her what to do and that Mike’s life could depend on it. So…” She shrugged helplessly.

“Okay,” Hopper said. “So we’ll hope for the best.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and glanced at Will. “So, you’re psychic now, huh?”

“Sort of,” Will mumbled. “We’ve been trying to practice with El. It comes and goes.”

Lucas raised his brows. They hadn’t mentioned this to them.

Hopper nodded. “Does your mom know about this?”

Will shook his head. “We didn’t want to say anything until I had some practice,” he admitted.

“And does your Mom know where you are?” Hopper asked.

“We left a note,” Will said, looking guilty.

“Yeah, that’s how we found you,” Hopper said. “But when we make it out of here, we’re gonna call her and tell her exactly what’s happening, got it?”

“She’s just going to worry,” Will protested.

“She would worry if you didn’t come home and she never knew why too,” Hopper said. “She deserves to know the truth, okay?”

Will winced, but he nodded.

“Okay,” Hopper said. “Christ.”

Mike made a noise of complaint in his sleep, and Lucas quickly sat him up against his shoulder, letting his hot forehead fall against Lucas’s neck. “Hey,” he said. “We’re gonna get you some antibiotics in a second, okay?”

“Lucas?” Mike asked weakly, shivering against him.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Lucas said.

“Don’t feel good,” Mike mumbled. “Worse than back in second grade, ‘member?”

Mike had gotten the stomach flu, and he’d tried to bike home himself because he’d insisted that he’d just throw up on Lucas and get him sick too, and Lucas had shoved him onto the back of his bike anyway.

And he’d gotten the stomach flu a few days later, but at least they’d gotten Mike home.

“Yeah, I ‘member,” Lucas teased. “You puked everywhere, man.”

“Yeah I did,” Mike mumbled.

Lucas rubbed his back, watching Will as Will cocked his head, listening for something.

What seemed like hours passed, but then Karen Wheeler burst into the room, dragging a blinking doctor after her.

“Now could you tell me what the  _ hell _ is going on?” she asked Nancy before her eyes caught up and landed on Mike. “Oh my  _ god, _ what…?”

“Mom,” Nancy said tersely. “Not now.”

“Not…?!” Karen blurted. “Your brother is half dead in an abandoned hospital room and you’re talking about people being cold to the touch and you don’t want me to ask about it now?!”

“Listen, young lady,” the doctor said to Nancy, before Hopper straightened up, pulling out his gun and pointing it at the doctor.

“No, you listen,” Hopper growled.

“Jim?” Karen managed.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Hopper snapped. “You are going to treat this kid and then we are going to walk out of here. No one is going to ask any questions and after we’re gone, you’re not going to tell anyone we were here. Got it?”

“I could report you to the police,” the doctor said.

“And tell them what?” Nancy asked. “The Wheelers and the dead chief of police took you hostage? Just treat him!”

“Nancy,” Karen said, voice low and warning. “You are going to tell me what the  _ hell _ is going on or so help me I will…!”

“Later, Mom,” Nancy said. “Can we please just deal with Mike for now?”

If looks could kill, Karen’s glare would be singing a hole into Nancy’s right now, but she bit her tongue and stepped back.

Lucas awkwardly held up Mike’s injured arm to the doctor.

“What happened?” the doctor asked, giving Lucas a Look. It was a Look Lucas had seen a lot, especially dating Max, but much worse now. “Lover’s quarrel?”

Hopper cocked the gun. “I said no questions,” he snarled, in a way Lucas very much appreciated.

The doctor took a long look. “He needs antibiotics.”

“Yeah, no shit,” Hopper said. “Figure it out. And if you tell anyone we’re here, I will know, and I will make you regret it, got it?”

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Karen said, giving the doctor a halfhearted push out the door.

“So you guys, uh,” Hopper asked awkwardly, nodding at Lucas petting Mike’s hair.

“It’s… uh… it’s complicated,” Lucas said.

“It’s not the reason he and El broke up, is it?” Hopper asked.

Lucas shook his head. “Apparently they just… decided it was time?”

Hopper nodded. “Well, okay,” he said. “Anyone gives you trouble, let me know.”

“Thanks?” Lucas said. It was nice to know even a grizzled old policeman like Jim Hopper could be supportive in his own gruff way, but Lucas sort of wished that he could know that while actually dating Mike.

“Wait wait wait,” Nancy said. “You and Mike? I thought you were dating Max.”

“Uh,” Lucas said. This was officially a nightmare.

“He is,” Will said. “He and Max came to an agreement. And I guess Mike did too?”

“Not yet,” Lucas said. “But we told him.”

“Oh,” Will said.

“I’m… What?” Nancy said, brow furrowing. “So you’d date… Max and Mike?”

“If he agrees,” Lucas said. “Then… yeah I guess.”

“Whabout me?” Mike slurred.

“Nothing,” Lucas told him softly. “Just rest.”

“Mmkay,” Mike mumbled into his shoulder.

Hopper raised a brow at him. “Oh,” he said. “So that’s how the kids these days do it?”

“No,” Lucas said. “This one is new.”

“Okay,” Hopper said. “Just please talk El out of having two boyfriends, my heart can’t take that at this age.”

“I think she’s decided to stay single for now,” Will offered.

“Oh, good,” Hopper said, burying his head in his hands. “That’s good.”

“I…” Nancy started, before sitting down. “I mean, as long as you’re all happy?”

Lucas cleared his throat awkwardly.

Will gave him a small thumbs up, before his head swiveled around, followed a moment later by the return of Karen and the doctor.

Lucas kept his arm around Mike even as the doctor quickly inserted an IV into his hand and attached a bag of antibiotics to it.

“Alright, and he needs this for how long?” Hopper asked.

“You’re going to take him out of here?” Karen said.

“Sorry, no choice,” Hopper said. “Answer the question.”

“After three hours, switch the bag. He needs all three of these for the full course,” the doctor said, seeming all to happy to have them out of there as soon as possible as he shoved the medicated bags into Nancy’s hands.

“Okay,” Nancy said, nodding.

“Not a word, got it?” Hopper hissed, shoving him out the door. He handed the end of the IV to Lucas. “Hold it up, high as you can manage, okay?”

“I’ll carry him,” Lucas said, handing it back. “You hold this.”

“Wh…” Karen said, but they were already all standing up, Lucas shifting his hold on Mike until his arms were firmly around his knees and back, holding him securely. Mike was tall, but he was also lanky. She rushed after them, hissing in worry as Lucas slipped Mike out the door, careful not to hit his head as it lolled on his shoulder.

“How’s he doing?” Max asked.

Lucas nodded. “We got the medicine for him, so hopefully he’ll be okay.”

“Okay,” she breathed, reaching over to pat Mike on the head. She glanced at Karen. “Is she coming with us?”

“You’re damn right I am,” Karen said, hands on her hips. “And what…” She looked at El, who stared back, wide-eyed. “Is this the girl who stayed in our basement in ‘83?”

“Yes,” El said.

“The Russian?” Karen asked Nancy in alarm.

“No,” El said. “Mike’s ex.”

“Mike’s…? Mike’s been dating the girl he hid in our basement?”

“But we broke up,” El said, opening the door to Nancy’s car for Lucas with her mind. “It was mu-tu-al.” She checked with Max to see if she’d said it right, and Max nodded as she put her hand over Mike’s head to keep it from bumping into the door when Lucas hauled him inside, Hopper leaning over her to get the bag on the coat hook near the door.

Karen gaped at her. “Did she just… Did you just…?”

“Get in the back,” El demanded, opening that door too.

“Okay,” Karen said weakly, and did.

**

Silence loomed over them all.

“If it helps, I didn’t believe it at first either,” Max said. “Until we were attacked by dog creatures whose faces opened up into big flowers with teeth.”

Karen stared at her, jaw hanging open. “Excuse me?”

“Demodogs,” Dustin said helpfully. “Remember? We mentioned them before the…”

“The time when my son was locked in a dark room surrounded by carnage and no one told me, his mother, yes, I  _ heard _ you,” Karen snapped. “No one felt the need to tell me? No one felt the need to at least  _ suggest _ that something was wrong or that I needed to  _ be there _ for him?”

“Well, uh,” Dustin said. “You see the government threatened us all with…”

“Were there  _ any _ adults taking care of him?” Karen shouted. “Did anyone ask him if he was okay, or if he was… god, I noticed him getting up at night! Ted told me it was probably  _ growing pains,  _ and I  _ believed _ him because no one in this damn room thought to tell me that it was probably  _ nightmares!” _

“I didn’t… think he was…” Nancy managed.

“No, this is not on you, even though I am  _ furious _ with you that you didn’t tell me that your  _ boss _ was  _ possessed?  _ And that’s not something your mother should know, but we will  _ settle _ that  _ later.  _ No, this was not your responsibility.” She was on her feet, brandishing her finger at Hopper, and Lucas desperately hoped he didn’t burst out laughing. He could definitely see where Mike had gotten his own temper from.  _ “You.” _

“Alright, yes,” Hopper said, trying to keep his voice calm. “I didn’t tell you. I had to make some tough choices, but I’ve done everything I could to keep him out of danger, even though he’s  _ very  _ stubborn…”

“Did you ever, even  _ once _ stop to have a real conversation with him?” Karen asked.

“Well,” Hopper said, like his life was flashing before his eyes in the form of a very angry Karen Wheeler. “Uh, no, but…”

“You did threaten him,” Max said, and she was not trying nearly as hard as Lucas to hide how entertaining this is.

“You  _ threatened my son?! After EVERYTHING he’s been through?!” _ Karen screamed.

“Alright, listen,” Hopper said. “They were making out all the time! I just gave him a little hassling, like our dads used to, you remember? Come on, it wasn’t anything serious!”

“You don’t think what he’s been through is  _ serious?!” _ she yelled, gesturing at Mike wildly.

“No, no, that’s not what I said,” Hopper said, backing up when Karen took a step forward like she was an attack dog of some kind.

At the moment, Lucas wondered if he’d win a fight with Karen. He almost wanted to find out.

“Nnn,” Mike said faintly, and everyone turned to look at him instead.

“Oh, god, Michael,” Karen breathed, sinking down in front of him.

Mike blinked at her. “Mom?”

“Yes, honey, it’s me,” she said softly.

He squirmed into something like sitting up, and Lucas did his best to help, arms around Mike’s waist to steady him. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry, why the hell  _ wouldn’t  _ I be here?” Karen said, because apparently, like Mike, she had the patience of whatever the opposite of a saint was. “You were  _ dying.” _

“I wasn’t!” Mike snapped. “I was just… It’s fine.”

“Could you  _ stop?” _ Nancy said.

“Yeah, last time you said things we fine, you faceplanted into Lucas like five minutes later,” Max said.

“I’m… So?” Mike said. “That was one time! It’s not like I…” He went pale, lurching forward a little.

“What’s the matter?” Lucas asked, stroking Mike’s hair back comfortingly.

“You feel nauseous?” Robin guessed.

“Yeah,” Mike said.

“You’re on pretty heavy antibiotics and an empty stomach, that’s pretty normal,” Hopper said. “Lay back down, alright?”

Karen glared at him, but let him ease Mike back down so he was laying against Lucas’s hip. Lucas slid down so he could get an arm around Mike and Mike could rest against his shoulder.

“Feel any better?” Lucas asked.

Mike nodded.

“You need food,” Hopper said. “Uh…”

“I’ll show you the kitchen,” Steve said, glancing at Karen nervously like she was going to fly across the room to kill Hopper and anyone in his vicinity at any moment. 

To be fair, she did look it.

Mike cleared his throat, glancing nervously between Lucas and Karen. “Um,” he said.

Karen looked them both up and down for a moment, then sighed. “Given how little all of you tell me, let me guess: you’re dating?”

“Uh,” Mike said. “I guess so?”

This was a horrible way to find out about that, Lucas thought, and he would be informing Mike of that the moment they didn’t have almost all their friends and family staring at them.

“I see,” Karen said. “And Max is…?”

“Also dating them,” Max said. “Mostly Lucas, though.”

That seemed to derail Karen’s brain for a moment, before it clicked back into place and she shook her head in something of a bewildered shiver. “Okay,” she said, before looking at Robin. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Robin,” Robin said, smiling sweetly. 

“Right,” Karen said. “Robin. Do you have any booze?”

“We  _ do,” _ Robin said. “Would you like some?”

_ “Please.” _

She got up, leaving only Dustin, Nancy and El perched over them, staring. Will, at least, had the good graces to sit across the room, yawning as he nearly dozed off. Probably from using his powers. Which he had, apparently.

“Will, do you need a nap?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah,” Will said.

“And food,” El murmured. “I’ll help.” She patted Mike’s shoulder. “Rest. Feel better soon.”

Mike nodded, giving her a soft look as she tousled his hair and walked Will out. Nancy squeezed Mike’s shoulder too, and followed after.

Max gave Dustin a pointed look.

Dustin did not seem to read it.

“Dustin,” Lucas said, giving him a strained smile. 

“What?” Dustin asked.

“Could we have a second?” Max asked.

“Oh!” Dustin blurted. “Yes. Sorry.” He patted Mike’s head. “Feel better, buddy.” 

He raced away, thankfully closing the door behind him.

“You  _ guess so?” _ Lucas blurted. “What the  _ hell,  _ Mike?”

“I don’t know!” Mike whined. “My head hurts, I’m nauseated and I just wanna live here forever.”

“In Lucas’s arms?” Max teased.

“Yes,” Mike mumbled, turning his face into Lucas’s chest.

Max made an appreciative face. “Fair enough.”

Lucas fought the impulse to blush. Badly, probably. “So… yes?”

“Yes,” Mike mumbled.

“We’re dating?” Lucas asked, just to be sure.

“Yes, Lucas!” Mike snapped, muffled by Lucas’s shirt. “God!”

“You’re  _ embarrassing  _ him,” Max whispered, grinning.

Lucas mustered a smile. Mike sounded better. “Good!” He shook Mike slightly, carefully. “You scared the hell out of us.”

“Sorry,” Mike said under his breath.

“I guess you can’t feel that much better if you’re actually admitting you were an idiot, huh?” Max said, wrapping a lock of hair at the base of Mike’s neck around her finger. 

Mike blushed. “Shut up. I didn’t think it was that bad!”

She peered down at him through her lashes. “Mhmm.”

“I said I was sorry,” he mumbled, dropping his gaze.

“Dumbass,” Lucas said, wrestling himself up onto his elbow to look at Mike. “Can I kiss you?”

“Ew, no,” Mike said, which stung, until Mike quickly added, “I taste like puke.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Max said. “Do you want me to find you a toothbrush?”

“Not yet?” Mike said, voice dropping to something quiet. Something  _ fragile. _ “Can we just… like, for a second…?”

Lucas’s resolve broke with a snap. “C’mere,” he said, putting one arm around Mike’s waist and shuffling the other hand up to cup his cheek. He pressed his lips to Mike’s cheek, long and firm, and felt Mike melt against him, making a small noise that somehow broke Lucas’s resolve even further. The cheek kiss wasn’t going to be enough.

He wormed his arm under Mike, drawing him close enough to squeeze him, and nestled his face into Mike’s shoulder. “I was so worried about you,” he said, nosing at the thick hair that spilled under Mike’s ear so he could get to the skin of his neck and press kisses there.

Mike shivered under him. “Sorry,” he said.

“Oh, shut up,” Max said, slumping over them, her forehead pressed to Lucas’s arm as she wrapped herself around Mike too, carefully rearranging his arm for him so his IV stayed unharmed. “We’re just glad you’re alright.”

“Okay,” Mike said. “Um. Well, this is very comfortable, so if I fall asleep, uh…”

“Just sleep already,” Lucas sighed. “We’ve got you.”

“Alright,” Mike said, shuffling a little in Lucas’s arm.

They listened to his breathing soften as he fell back asleep.

“Your arm is totally gonna go numb,” Max teased after a moment of listening to Mike’s chest rise and fall. 

“Worth it,” Lucas informed her from the warmth of Mike’s shoulder.

“Idiots,” she whispered, but her arm joined his under Mike’s head, propping it up a little better so they could all relax against each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was gonna do one more chapter of slowburn and then i was like "BUT what if mike is sick and feverish and can't really remember why he's not dating lucas, like, yesterday" and also... cuddling is nice
> 
> (i figured erica would not be interested in hovering around an unconscious mike so she's probably investigating the flayed situation by listening to the radio or something but she was probably like "what's happening?" and dustin's like "oh your brother has a boyfriend AND a girlfriend now" and then moves on and ignores her while she's like "WHAT???")

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a comment or come find me @dgalerab on tumblr to talk to me about this fic or this ship or just mike wheeler in general


End file.
